PRINCETON, N.J. — In a preview of what could be an Ivy League match to determine the title later this spring, the men's tennis team was handed a 4-1 loss by Columbia on Sunday afternoon in the ECAC Indoor Championship finals at Jadwin Gymnasium.
 
The loss ended Cornell's impressive season-opening streak of eight consecutive victories. The lone point for the Big Red came from a No. 4 singles victory from senior Colin Sinclair.
 
Columbia (6-2), ranked 19th in the nation by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association and the defending Ivy League champion, started the day by winning the doubles point. But the Cornell (8-1) tandem of Sinclair and sophomore David Volfson earned an impressive victory at the No. 1 position, knocking off the 30th-ranked pairing of Shawn Hadavi and Jackie Tang.
 
The teams then went on to split the opening sets in the six singles matches, but the Lions eventually pulled ahead for good. Sinclair dropped just three games in his straight-set victory to pull the Big Red back to a deficit of 2-1, but Columbia clinched before the day's two three-set matches reached a conclusion.
 
It is the second straight year in which Cornell finished second at the ECAC Indoor Championships, having fallen to Princeton in last year's championship. The Big Red last won the title in 2013, when it hosted the event at Reis Tennis Center.
 
Cornell will spend the next five weeks competing in its final eight non-league matches before opening Ivy play April 1 against Columbia in New York. The Big Red will return to its next three matches next weekend, hosting Clemson at 3 p.m. Friday, Wisconsin at 11 a.m. Sunday and Colgate at 4 p.m. Sunday.
 
#19 COLUMBIA 4, CORNELL 1
Singles
1. #39 Shawn Hadavi (Clm) def. David Volfson, 6-3, 6-1
2. #87 Victor Pham (Clm) def. Lev Kazakov, 6-2, 6-3
3. #114 Chris Vrabel (Cor) vs. #100 Jackie Tang, DNF
4. Colin Sinclair (Cor) def. Alex Keyser, 6-1, 6-2
5. Will Matheson (Clm) def. Daniel Grunberger, 6-3, 6-1
6. Bernardo Casares Rosa (Cor) vs. Tim Wang, DNF
Doubles
1. Sinclair/Volfson (Cor) def. #30 Hadavi/Tang, 6-3
2. #14 R. Pham/V. Pham (Clm) def. Casares Rosa/Vrabel, 6-4
3. Christopher Grant/Michal Rolski (Clm) def. Dylan Brown/Kazakov, 6-1
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2), Singles (1,4,5,2)