NEW YORK – Sophomores Kyle Berman, Sam Fleck, Jason Luu and Quoc-Daniel Nguyen won doubles matches to help the No. 41 men's tennis team get on the board first Saturday, but No. 44 Columbia rattled off four straight singles victories en route to a 4-3 win at Dick Savitt Tennis Center.
 
Berman and Fleck started off the match with an 8-4 win over Dragos Ignat and Bert Vancura at the No. 3 doubles position. The Lions' nationally ranked No. 1 pairing defeated Venkat Iyer and Alex Sidney, 8-6, to put the balance of doubles play on the No. 2 match. Luu and Nguyen held serve against Winston Lin and Cyril Bucher throughout, sending the match to a tiebreaker, which the Big Red tandem won, 9-8(8).
 
Singles play was decidedly less friendly to Cornell (11-5), which got its final two points after Columbia competitors retired with the balance of the match already decided. Lin, ranked 52nd in the country in singles by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, handed Iyer a 6-4, 6-1 loss at the top spot to tie the match at 1. The Lions then took the lead with Ashok Narayana's 6-3, 6-0 win at No. 3. Vancura put the Big Red on the ropes with a tight 7-6(5), 6-4 win over Berman at No. 6, then Ignat locked up the match with a 6-4, 6-3 triumph over Fleck at No. 2.
 
Nguyen and Luu were awarded victories at the Nos. 4 and 5 spots, respectively after their opponents retired. Cornell returns to Ivy League action next weekend with matches against Harvard and Dartmouth.
 
No. 44 COLUMBIA 4, No. 41 CORNELL 3
at The Dick Savitt Tennis Center; New York
Singles
1. No. 52 Winston Lin (Col) def. Venkat Iyer, 6-3, 6-1
2. Dragos Ignat (Col) def. Sam Fleck,  6-4, 6-3
3. Ashok Narayana (Col) def. Alex Sidney, 6-3, 6-0
4. Quoc-Daniel Nguyen (Cor) def. Max Schnur, 6-7, 5-4, retired
5. Jason Luu (Cor) def. Nathaniel Gery, 3-6, 6-1, 2-2, retired
6. Bert Vancura (Col) def. Kyle Berman, 7-6(5), 6-4
Doubles
1. No. 36 Narayana/Schnur (Col) def. Iyer/Sidney, 8-6
2. Luu/Nguyen (Cor) def. Cyril Bucher/Lin, 9-8(8)
3. Berman/Fleck (Cor) def. Ignat/Vancura, 8-4
Order of Finish: Doubles (3,1,2), Singles (1,3,6,2,5,4)
Records: Columbia 11-5, Cornell 11-5