PHILADELPHIA — The men's tennis team swept Penn, 7-0, in an emphatic victory on Friday to set up a dramatic match against Princeton with likely NCAA tournament implications on Sunday at Reis Tennis Center.


It's the fourth consecutive victory for Cornell (12-7, 4-2 Ivy League), which is ranked 48th in the country by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. The Big Red started the day by decisively winning the doubles point. Senior Sam Fleck and sophomore Colin Sinclair, who debuted in the ITA national doubles rankings this week at No. 85, sailed to a 6-2 victory at the No. 2 spot. Sophomores Bernardo Casares Rosa and Chris Vrabel won by the same margin at the No. 1 spot, improving to 3-2 on the season against ranked opponents by defeating #74 Jeremy Court and Nicholai Westergaard.
 
Cornell went on to win four of the six singles matches in straight sets, with Casares Rosa (No. 2) and Sinclair (No. 5) winning comfortably in their respective third sets. Vrabel (No. 4) won his 14th straight singles match and is a remarkable 15-2 in dual matches this season.
 
Friday's victory sets the stage for a dramatic Senior Day at 1 p.m. Sunday against 35th-ranked Princeton. While both the Big Red and Tigers saw their hopes of winning an Ivy League title disappear with Columbia's 5-2 victory over Princeton on Friday, both Cornell and Princeton are fighting for possible at-large bids to next month's NCAA tournament. The Big Red won the Ivy League title in 2011 to pave the way to its first NCAA appearance, but it has never qualified for the tournament as an at-large team. A victory against Princeton on Sunday would put Cornell in good position to do just that.
 
The Tigers (18-7, 3-3) have lost three straight, but won nine of their 10 matches before that. Like Penn, Princeton is particularly strong at the top of its singles order. Entering the weekend, Zack McCourt is 15-6 from the No. 1 position (including a 5-7 record against nationally ranked foes) and Thomas Colautti is 13-4 from primarily the No. 2 spot. They also traditionally team up as Princeton's No. 1 doubles entry, where they rank 37th in the nation. Princeton holds a dominating 89-9-1 record against Cornell since the squads first met in 1906, but the Big Red has won six of the last nine meetings. Their last matchup was in February's ECAC Indoor Championship, with the Tigers ekeing out a 4-3 marathon match at Harvard.
 
Sunday's match will also serve as the Big Red's Senior Day, where it will honor the final home match in the careers of Kyle Berman, Patrick Fiaux, Sam Fleck, Jason Luu, Quoc-Daniel Nguyen and Alex Sidney. The match at Reis Tennis Center is free to attend and open to the public. Live scores will be posted here.
 
#48 CORNELL 7, PENN 0
Friday's results; at Philadelphia
Singles
1. Sam Fleck (C) def. Jeremy Court, 6-1, 7-5
2. Bernardo Casares Rosa (C) def. Blaine Willenborg, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3
3. Stefan Vinti (C) def. Josh Pompan, 6-4, 6-1
4. Chris Vrabel (C) def. Matt Nardella, 6-2, 6-2
5. Colin Sinclair (C) def. Austin Kaplan, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2
6. Alex Sidney (C) def. Zach Lessen, 6-4, 6-3
Doubles
1. Casares Rosa/Vrabel (C) def. #74 Court/Westergaard, 6-2
2. #85 Fleck/Sinclair (C) def. Nardella/Spratt, 6-2
3. Quoc-Daniel Nguyen/Vinti (C) vs. Kaplan/Willenborg, (DNF)