ITHACA, N.Y. — Freshman Pietro Rimondini won at No. 4 singles to clinch the men's tennis team's 4-3 victory over Yale on Saturday and inch the Big Red one step closer to an Ivy League title.
 
Cornell (20-3, 5-1 Ivy League) remains in a three-way tie for first place in the league with just one match remaining for all three contenders. The Big Red can clinch at least a share of the crown with a win against Brown at 1 p.m. Sunday at Reis Tennis Center — and it would win the title outright if both Columbia (vs. Yale) and Harvard (at Penn) lose their respective matches.
 
The Big Red, which entered the week ranked 26th in the nation by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, started the day with victories from the top two positions to win the doubles point. Though Cornell won the first set in four singles matches, Yale (16-8, 2-4) won finished off straight-set victories at No. 1 and No. 3 to take a 2-1 lead.
 
Cornell stormed right back, with seniors Bernardo Casares Rosa (No. 6) and Colin Sinclair (No. 1) coming through on Senior Day. That left the balance of the match on three-set decisions. Yale won at No. 5, setting the stage for a dramatic rally from Rimondini. His opponent served for the match twice, but Rimondini came up with a pair of huge breaks to eventually force a tiebreaker. He clinched the match on a double fault.
 
Full match scores will be posted here when made available.