NEW YORK -- The 57th-ranked Columbia University men's tennis team rebounded from its loss to Brown yesterday with a convincing win against Yale on Saturday at the Dick Savitt Tennis Center. Combined with Brown's loss at Cornell, the win moves the Lions back in first place in the Ivy League with a 4-1 record heading into the last weekend of the season.

The Lions started off strongly in doubles with co-captain Jon Wong and first-year Haig Schneiderman winning 8-4 at No. 2, followed by co-captain Dan Urban and first year Rajeev Deb-Sen's 8-5 win at No. 3. At No. 1, junior Mihai Nichifor and senior Bogdan Borta rebounded from being down 7-4 to win 5 straight games and the pro-set that gave the Lions the doubles sweep.

In singles, Wong was the first off the court with an impressive 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 2, and he was soon followed by Schneiderman who won 6-3, 6-2 at No. 5 that put Columbia up 3-0. Nichifor clinched the win for the Lions with a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 3.

Borta won his first set at the top singles spot and held a match point up 5-3 in the second, but he ended up losing the second set. First-year Ekin Sezgen won his first set at No. 4, dropped his second, but retired up 2-1 in the third once the outcome of the match was decided.

Deb-Sen was victorious in his first set at the six spot, but dropped the second. Borta and Jeff Dawson played a super tie-breaker to decide their match. Dawson ended up winning 12-10 to give Yale its second point of the day. Deb-Sen would also drop his super tie-breaker to make the final score 4-3 in Columbia's favor.

Columbia hosts Penn on Friday, April 17 at 2 p.m. at the Dick Savitt Tennis Center and then will travel to Princeton for the regular-season finale on Sunday April 19 at 2 p.m.

Columbia 4, Yale 3

Doubles

1. Borta/Nichifor (C) def. Caldwell/C. Dawson (Y) 9-7

2. Wong/Schneiderman (C) def. Bennett/Samaha (Y) 8-4

3. Urban/Deb-Sen (C) def. Lederman/J. Dawson (Y) 8-5

Singles

1. J. Dawson (Y) def. Bogdan Borta (C) 5-7, 7-5, 1-0 (10)

2. Jon Wong (C) def. C. Dawson (Y) 6-2, 6-2

3. Mihai Nichifor (C) def. Caldwell (Y) 6-3, 6,3

4. Bennett (Y) def. Ekin Sezgen (C) 4-6, 6-0, 1-2, ret.

5. Haig Schneiderman (C) def. Samaha (Y) 6-3, 6-2

6. Blumenkranz (Y) def. Rajeev Deb-Sen (C) 6-7, 6-3, 1-0 (7)