PRINCETON, N.J. — Senior Bernardo Casares Rosa pushed his record at No. 6 singles to a perfect 7-0, clinching the men's tennis team's 4-1 victory over Princeton on Saturday in the semifinals of the ECAC Indoor Championships at Jadwin Gymnasium.
 
Cornell, which is now 8-0 to start the dual season, advances to take on top-seeded and 19th-ranked Columbia in the championship match at 1 p.m. Sunday. The match will be streamed on Ivy League Digital Network, with a view on each of the match's six courts: http://www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com/cornell/schedule?sid=TN&date=2017-02-17
 
For just the second time this season, Cornell — which is seeded second and has received votes for the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Top 25 rankings — lost the doubles point. The No. 3 team of senior Dylan Brown and freshman Lev Kazakov won for Cornell, but Princeton (3-4) secured the opening point by winning the No. 1 match in a tiebreaker.  
 
It was all Big Red in singles, where are all four victories came in straight sets before the remaining two matches were halted. Kazakov tied the score at 1 with a 6-4, 6-3 win at the top spot, then senior Colin Sinclair put the Big Red ahead by winning with an identical score at No. 3. Freshman Pietro Rimondini locked up Cornell's third point at No. 5, and Casares closed out the match.
 
Cornell will face defending Ivy League champion Columbia (5-2) in the final after the Lions defeated fifth-seeded Dartmouth, 4-0, on Saturday.  The Big Red last won the ECAC tournament in 2013, a title that was capped by a 4-0 victory over Columbia. With a victory Sunday, Cornell would also go to 9-0 for the first time since 2004 and be one win away from matching the program's best all-time start to a season.
 
PRINCETON 4, CORNELL 1
Singles
1. Lev Kazakov (C) def. Alex Day, 6-4, 6-3
2. #114 Chris Vrabel (C) vs. Tom Colautti, DNF
3. Colin Sinclair (C) def. Luke Gamble, 6-4, 6-3
4. Daniel Grunberger (C) vs. Kial Kaiser, DNF
5. Pietro Rimondini (C) def. Payton Holden, 6-3, 6-2
6. Bernardo Casares Rosa (C) def. Jon Carcione, 6-3, 6-4
Doubles
1. Day/Gamble (P) def. Sinclair/David Volfson, 7-6
2. Colautti/Holden (P) def. Casares Rosa/Vrabel, 6-4
3. Dylan Brown/Kazakov (C) def. Kaiser/Diego Vives, 6-4