NEW YORK - The Columbia men's tennis team will return to action this weekend, making the short trip to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center to compete in the NTC Invitational Friday, Sept. 21 through Sunday, Sept. 23. Admission to the NTC Invitational in Flushing Meadows, N.Y. is free all three days.

Competition at the BJK National Tennis Center, the site of the U.S. Open, will begin Friday morning at 9 a.m. with the first round of doubles matches. First serve in singles action is slated for 10:30 a.m., with five of the ten drawings beginning. The remaining five draws will follow with a noon start. Competition in the afternoon continues with singles competition from both the main and consolation draws.

Play on Saturday begins with a heavy dose of doubles competition in the morning, to be followed by singles play in the afternoon. The tournament wraps up Sunday with the final round in both doubles and singles, contingently scheduled for 9 a.m. 

The Lions opened the 2012-13 season last weekend at the Farnsworth/Princeton Invitational, capturing victories in four draws. Daniel Morgan, Max Schnur, Ben Vancura and Ashok Narayana each returned to the City of New York with draw titles. Winston Lin and Eric Rubin also had impressive showings, reaching the finals of their respective draws.