UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Senior David Volfson continued his winning ways, but the men's tennis team suffered a 4-1 loss against Penn State on Sunday at Penn State Indoor Tennis Center.
 
Though the score is not a fair indicator, the match between Cornell (8-8) and 47th-ranked Penn State (10-5) couldn't have been much closer. The clinching point came in a marathon match at No. 2 that featured tiebreakers in both the first and third set that went the way of the Nittany Lions' Christian Lakoseljac. If the Big Red had eked out that match, it would have been in control after sophomore Eero Vasa (No. 5) and junior Pietro Rimondini (No. 6) had built leads in the last remaining matches. All four of the completed singles matches required third sets.
 
After Penn State started off by securing the doubles point, Cornell evened the score at 1. Volfson improved to 4-0 in singles since returning from injury, competing at the No. 4 position to surge past Gabriel Nemeth, 4-6, 6-0, 6-1. Sophomore Alafia Ayeni (No. 1) and junior Daniel Soyfer (No. 3) rallied to win the second sets of their respective matches, but eventually fell in three to set up Lakoseljac's clincher.
 
The Big Red will now turn its attention to Ivy League play after an idle weekend. Cornell returns to action with home matches at 1 p.m. April 6 against Brown and 1 p.m. April 7 against Yale before taking on Niagara at 4 p.m. April 7.
 
#47 PENN STATE 4, CORNELL 1
Singles
1. #44 Constant De La Bassetiere (P) def. #113 Alafia Ayeni, 7-6(7), 2-6, 6-3
2. #116 Christian Lakoseljac (P) def. Lev Kazakov, 6-7(7), 7-5, 7-6(3)
3. Christos Antonopoulos (P) def. Daniel Soyfer, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4
4. #24 David Volfson (C) def. Gabriel Nemeth, 4-6, 6-0, 6-1
5. Eero Vasa (C) vs. Ben Lieb, DNF
6. Pietro Rimondini (C) vs. Jordan Nickerson, DNF
Doubles
1. #11 De La Bassetiere/Nemeth (P) def. Ayeni/Vasa, 6-4
2. Matt Galush/Lieb (P) def. Jake Hansen/Soyfer, 6-3
3. Kazakov/Volfson (C) vs. Antonopoulos/Lakoseljac, DNF
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2), Singles (4,3,1,2)