ITHACA, N.Y. — The men's tennis team's regular season came to a close Sunday with a 4-3 loss to Princeton at Reis Tennis Center. Cornell (12-8, 4-3 Ivy League), which entered the week ranked 48th in the nation by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, will now await word on whether or not it will warrant an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament next month.
 
The Big Red started the day strong by securing the doubles point. Sophomores Bernardo Casares Rosa and Chris Vrabel took down the nation's 37th-ranked tandem at the No. 1 spot, 6-4, with the No. 3 pairing of senior Quoc-Daniel Nguyen and junior Stefan Vinti winning by the same score.
 
Bumped up to the No. 3 position for the first time in dual matches this season, Vrabel delivered with yet another decisive victory, 6-4, 6-3 against Alex Day. It's Vrabel's 15th consecutive victory in singles play, a streak that started all the way back in January.
 
But 35th-ranked Princeton (19-7, 4-3) won the other three singles matches to be decided in straight sets to take a 3-2 lead. While Sinclair won in a super tiebreaker from the No. 5 spot, the match had already been decided by the point after Princeton's Dan Richardson at the No. 4 position.
 
Cornell will learn its NCAA tournament fate on Tuesday, April 28. The field is comprised of 64 teams, though automatic bids for conference champions who are unranked whittles down the amount of available spots for at-large bids. 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.
 
Sunday's match served as the Big Red's Senior Day, where it honored the final home match in the careers of Kyle Berman, Patrick Fiaux, Fleck, Jason Luu, Nguyen and Alex Sidney.
 
#35 PRINCETON 4, #48 CORNELL 3
Sunday's results; at Reis Tennis Center; Ithaca, N.Y.
Singles
1. Zack McCourt (P) def. Sam Fleck, 6-2, 6-4
2. Thomas Colautti (P) def. Bernardo Casares Rosa, 6-2, 7-5
3. Chris Vrabel (C) def. Alex Day, 6-4, 6-3
4. Dan Richardson (P) def. Stefan Vinti, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3
5. Colin Sinclair (C) def. Luke Gamble, 7-6, 6-7, 1-0
6. Kial Kaiser (P) def. Alex Sidney, 6-2, 7-6
Doubles
1. Casares Rosa/Vrabel (C) def. #37 McCourt/Colautti, 6-4
2. #85 Fleck/Sinclair (C) vs. Day/Diego Vives, (DNF)
3. Quoc-Daniel Nguyen/Vinti (C) def. Gamble/Kaiser, 6-4