ITHACA, N.Y. — Sophomore Bernardo Casares Rosa battled back from a set down and through a second-set tiebreaker before winning in a third set at the No. 3 singles position to clinch the men's tennis team's upset 4-3 victory over Penn State on Saturday afternoon at Reis Tennis Center.
 
Ranked 27th in the country by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, Penn State (3-6) took an early 1-0 lead by winning the first doubles matches to be played to completion — though the Big Red pair of sophomore Colin Sinclair and senior Sam Fleck was within one game of sewing up a victory at the No. 2 position.
 
Cornell (4-4), which is ranked 64th by the ITA, then stormed back with straight-set victories from Sinclair (No. 4), sophomore Chris Vrabel (No. 5) and sophomore Dylan Brown (No. 6) in the lower half of the singles order to take a 3-2 lead. That left the Big Red needing to win just one of the final three matches — all of which entered a third set. Penn State rallied to win the top two, but Casares Rosa battled past Matt Barry, 3-6, 7-6, 6-2, to send the Big Red to its biggest victory of the season.
 
Cornell now leads the all-time series with Penn State, 26-11, having won the last two meetings by idential 4-3 scores.
 
Up next for Cornell is another crack at an ITA top 30 team, when it takes on Northwestern at 11 a.m. Sunday. The Wildcats had a four-match winning streak halted Friday by a loss to No. 6 Illinois in their Big Ten opener.
 
No. 64 CORNELL 4, No. 27 PENN STATE 3
Saturday's results; at Reis Tennis Center; Ithaca, N.Y.
Singles
1. #81 Leonard Stakhovsky (PSU) def. Stefan Vinti, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1
2. Alex Fennell (PSU) def. Sam Fleck, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
3. Bernardo Casares Rosa (C) def. Matt Barry, 3-6, 7-6, 6-2
4. Colin Sinclair (C) def. Tomas Hanzlik, 6-4, 6-4
5. Chris Vrabel (C) def. Roman Trkulja, 6-3, 7-5
6. Dylan Brown (C) def. Nika Dolidze, 6-2, 7-5
Doubles
1. Laaribi/Stakhovsky (PSU) def. Casares Rosa/Vrabel, 8-7(2)
2. Fleck/Sinclair (C) vs. Barry/Fennell, 7-4 (DNF)
3. Reilly/Trkulja (PSU) def. Nguyen/Vinti, 8-6