STILLWATER, Okla. – Radu Papoe stormed back to win his singles match at love in the third set and senior captain Evan Bynoe clinched by prevailing in a second-set tiebreaker in the Cornell men's tennis team's 5-2 victory over Oklahoma State on Friday at Greenwood Tennis Center.
 
Playing on the road for the first time since the start of the dual season, Cornell improved to a perfect 7-0 thanks to winning the first-ever meeting between the two programs.
 
Oklahoma State (2-5) started off by securing the doubles point to take an early lead, then the teams split the opening sets of the six singles matches. Cornell took over from there, sweeping each respective second set, starting with Vladislav Melnic's 6-4, 7-5 victory over a ranked opponent at #2.
 
Adit Sinha's win at #6 gave the visitors the lead, then Papoe breezed through the third set at #3 to put the Big Red on the brink. Bynoe notched the fourth point, cruising to a 7-1 advantage in the second-set tiebreaker of his match. Alafia Ayeni closed the Big Red's scoring by coming from behind to win in three sets at #1.
 
Cornell returns home to host the ECAC Indoor Championships next weekend at Reis Tennis Center in Ithaca, N.Y.
 
CORNELL 5, OKLAHOMA STATE 2
At Greenwood Tennis Center; Stillwater, Okla.
Singles
1. #27 Alafia Ayeni (C) def. Alex Garcia, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
2. Vladislav Melnic (C) def. #88 Seb Nothhaft, 6-4, 7-5
3. Radu Papoe (C) def. Max Verboven, 3-6, 6-4, 6-0
4. Evan Bynoe (C) def. Leighton Allen, 6-2, 7-6(1)
5. Fran Pini (OSU) def. Pietro Rimondini, 6-4, 5-7, 1-0(9)
6. Adit Sinha (C) def. Joseph Chen, 6-4, 6-4
Doubles
1. Ayeni/Melnic (C) vs. Chen/Nothhaft, DNF
2. Garcia/Verboven (OSU) def. Bynoe/Rimondini, 6-3
3. Allen/Pini (OSU) def. Jack McCarthy/Bradley Paliska, 6-4
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3), Singles (2,6,3,4,1,5)