INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – The men's tennis team held a late lead against 13th-ranked Michigan on Saturday, but the Wolverines stormed back to avert an upset by winning Nos. 2 and 3 singles matches in a third set and complete a 4-3 victory on Satruday in the consolation semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open Collegiate Tennis Challenge at Indian Wells Tennis Garden courts.
 
The three-day event brings Cornell (7-7) into a field with seven other prominent programs with play running concurrently with the BNP Paribas Open – a long-running ATP Tour Masters 1000 event and Premier Mandatory event on the WTA Tour.
 
Michigan (9-3), which had already defeated Cornell on Feb. 1 in a regular- season dual match, took an early 1-0 lead with the doubles point. The Big Red fought back by winning four of the six first sets in singles play, then three of those matches were clinched a short time later. Sophomore Alafia Ayeni (No. 1), senior David Volfson (No. 4) and sophomore Eero Vasa (No. 5) wrapped up matches in short order. Though the Wolverines prevailed at No. 6, that still left Cornell with a 3-2 lead entering the third sets of the final two matches. Michigan won both to lock up the victory.
 
Cornell wraps up play at the event with an 8 a.m. PDT match against Idaho in the seventh-place event at the tournament.
 
#13 MICHIGAN 4, CORNELL 3
at Indian Wells Tennis Garden Courts; Indian Wells, Calif.
Singles
1. Alafia Ayeni (C) def. Mattias Siimar, 6-1, 6-2
2. Myles Schalet (M) def. Lev Kazakov, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
3. Andrew Fenty (M) def. Daniel Soyfer, 7-5, 2-6, 6-2
4. #22 David Volfson (C) def. Connor Johnston, 6-2, 6-2
5. Eero Vasa (C) vs. Patrick Maloney, 6-3, 6-1
6. Gabe Rishman (M) def. Jake Hansen, 6-3, 6-1
Doubles
1. Fenty/Siimar (M) def. Ayeni/Vasa, 6-2
2. Hansen/Soyfer (C) vs. Harrison Brown/Johnston, DNF
3. Maloney/Schlat (M) def. Kazakov/Joseph McAllister, 6-4