The Columbia men’s tennis duo of Justin Chow and Bogdan Borta finished its fall season in strong form at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Indoor National Championships this past weekend at Ohio State. The pair, who had not played as a doubles team before the ITA Northeast Regionals, defeated the fifth-ranked doubles team from Alabama before falling in a tight contest to second-ranked Ole Miss in the semifinals of the consolation bracket.

Chow and Borta opened the tournament against the University of Oklahoma doubles team, but were defeated 8-3. The final match score was not indicative of the many chances that the Lions had to turn the match around, however—they had break opportunities early in the contest that they could not convert.

The highlight of the tournament for the Columbia pair came in its consolation-bracket quarterfinal match against the top doubles team from Alabama. The Lions came into the match as heavy underdogs to the fifth-ranked Crimson Tide squad and were trying to avoid the similar fate that befell them last February when Alabama swept the men’s tennis team 7-0 in New York. Chow and Borta dominated from the opening serve on Friday, taking the match 8-4 and eliminating the Crimson Tide from the tournament.

After faltering in its opening match against Texas, the doubles team from Ole Miss crushed Stanford 8-1, setting up a match against the Lions in the semifinals of the backdraw. Chow and Borta played some of their best tennis together against the second-ranked Rebels, but an early break point for Ole Miss doomed the Columbia pair to an 8-5 loss.

Still, the quality of tennis demonstrated by Chow and Borta on a national stage in their three matches this past weekend shows that the Lions have the talent to repeat as Ivy champions in the spring and that they must be considered one of the favorites.