HANOVER, N.H. — Senior Chris Vrabel and freshman Pietro Rimondini won three-set singles matches to complete the men's tennis team's 4-2 victory over Dartmouth on Saturday at Boss Tennis Center.
 
By winning its third straight, 25th-ranked Cornell (18-3, 3-1 Ivy League) remains one match off first place — but the leader is a surprise after unranked Harvard (16-8, 4-0) stunned three-time defending Ivy League champion and national #20 Columbia (14-4, 3-1) with a 4-2 win on Saturday. That result gives the Big Red an opportunity to move into a tie for the Ivy lead if it can defeat the Crimson at 1 p.m. Sunday.
 
But before that scenario came to light, the Big Red had to rally from an early deficit on Saturday after Dartmouth (9-12, 2-2) won a pair of tiebreakers at the lower two positions to secure the doubles point.
 
Sophomore David Volfson then got the Big Red on the board with a 6-1, 6-3 win at No. 2 singles. The Big Green got its lone singles victory at the No. 1 match to briefly take the lead back, but 116th-ranked freshman Lev Kazakov won in straight sets at No. 3 to knot the score at 2. That left the balance of the match in the lower half of the order, where all three matches headed to a third set.
 
Senior Chris Vrabel — who earlier paired with classmate Colin Sinclair to win the No. 1 doubles match — completed his rally to win at No. 4. Junior Daniel Grunberger had also pulled ahead at No. 6, but Rimondini clinched the match at No. 5 with a 6-1 win in the third for his 10th straight singles victory.
 
The Big Red's match against Harvard at 1 p.m. Sunday will be broadcast on the Ivy League Digital Network at http://www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com/cornell/schedule?sid=MTN&tid=3&day=2017-04-16
 
#25 CORNELL 4, DARTMOUTH 2
Singles
1. Charlie Broom (D) def. Colin Sinclair, 6-3, 6-4
2. David Volfson (C) def. Ciro Riccardi, 6-1, 6-3
3. #116 Lev Kazakov (C) def. Max Fliegner, 6-4, 6-3
4. Chris Vrabel (C) def. George Wall, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2
5. Pietro Rimondini (C) def. David Horneffer, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1
6. Daniel Grunberger (C) vs. Eddie Grabill, DNF
Doubles
1. #78 Sinclair/Vrabel (C) def. Horneffer/Wall, 6-3
2. Broom/Fliegner (D) def. Kazakov/Volfson, 7-6
3. Roko Glasnovic/Riccardi (D) def. Casares/Juan Jose Rosas, 7-6
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2), Singles (2,1,3,4,5)