PHILADELPHIA — The 51st-ranked men's tennis team rallied for a 5-2 victory over Penn on Sunday at Hamlin Tennis Center. Cornell, which ended the season the season 14-8 with a 3-4 mark in the Ivy League, won the final four matches to surge ahead for good against the Quakers.
 
The doubles team of sophomores Kyle Berman and Sam Fleck won its No. 3 match against Jeremy Court and Blaine Willenborg, 8-5, to finish the year with a 5-0 record in Ivy League matches. The victory also locked up the first point of Sunday's match when coupled with an 8-4 win from junior Venkat Iyer and sophomore Alex Sidney.
 
Penn (9-11, 1-6 Ivy) took a 2-1 lead with relatively easy victories at the Nos. 4 and 6 positions, but Cornell responded with Fleck's 6-3, 6-2 victory over Court at No. 2 to knot the score at 2. All three of the remaining singles matches would require a third set to decide a victor – and the Big Red pulled out all three of them.
 
Sophomore Quoc-Daniel Nguyen gave the Big Red a 3-2 lead by holding off Willenborg at No. 5. Nguyen won the first set, fell in the second, then won a third-set tiebreaker. Iyer then clinched the match for the Big Red in dramatic fashion, winning second- and third-set tiebreakers at No. 1 after dropping the first set against Nikola Kocovic. Sidney then concluded the match with another come-from-behind three-set victory at No. 3.
 
Cornell has now won six consecutive Ivy League meetings against Penn and 14 of the last 16 clashes dating back to 1997.
 
No. 51 CORNELL 5, PENN 2
Sunday; at Hamlin Tennis Center; Philadelphia
Singles
1. Venkat Iyer (C) def. Nikola Kocovic, 4-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(2)
2. Sam Fleck (C) def. Jeremy Court, 6-3, 6-2
3. Alex Sidney (C) def. Ismael Lahlou, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2
4. Zach Katz (P) def. Jason Luu, 6-1, 6-2
5. Quoc-Daniel Nguyen (C) def. Blaine Willenborg, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(2)
6. Vim De Alwis (P) def. Kyle Berman, 6-3, 6-2
Doubles
1. Sidney/Iyer (C) def. Kocovic/Kaplan, 8-4
2. Katz/De Alwis (P) vs. Nguyen/Luu, 6-5 (DNF)
3. Fleck/Berman (C) def. Court/Willenborg, 8-5
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3), Singles (4,6,2,5,1,3)
Records: Cornell 14-8, 3-4 Ivy, Penn 9-11, 1-6 Ivy