NEW YORK — Sophomore Chris Vrabel won his ninth consecutive singles match, but the men's tennis team fell short in its Ivy League opener against defending champion Columbia, 6-1, on Saturday at Dick Savitt Tennis Center.
 
The loss ended a four-match winning streak for Cornell (8-6, 0-1 Ivy League), which was tabbed 46th in this week's Intercollegiate Tennis Association national rankings.
 
Vrabel's victory came in the third set of the No. 4 singles match, after he battled back from an early deficit to take the second set. He was even at 4-4 with his opponent when an injury retirement got the Big Red on the board.
 
Columbia (8-5, 1-0) started the day by winning the doubles point, then clinched the match with four of its five singles victories coming in straight sets. Cornell stays on the road next weekend with Ivy League matches at Harvard and Dartmouth.
 
#26 COLUMBIA 6, #46 CORNELL 1
Saturday's results; at Dick Savitt Tennis Center; New York
Singles
1. #21 Winston Lin (Col) def. Sam Fleck, 6-2, 7-6
2. #105 Dragos Ignat (Col) def. Stefan Vinti, 6-2, 7-5
3. Ashok Narayana (Col) def. Bernardo Casares Rosa, 6-4, 6-3
4. Chris Vrabel (Cor) def. Shawn Hadavi, 2-6, 7-5, 4-4 (retired)
5. Mike Vermeer (Col) def. Colin Sinclair, 7-6, 3-6, (10-7)
6. Bert Vancura (Col) def. Dylan Brown, 6-2, 7-5
Doubles
1. #50 Lin/Vermeer (Col) def. Casares Rosa/Vrabel, 6-4
2. Ignat/Narayana (Col) def. Fleck/Sinclair, 6-4
3. Quoc-Daniel Nguyen/Vinti (Cor) vs. Max Schnur/Vancura, 6-5 (DNF)