SAN DIEGO -- Cornell men's tennis' Radu Papoe had his quest for an ITA National Fall Championship ended in the quarterfinals, as he was ousted in three sets (4-6, 7-5, 5-7) by No. 2-seeded JJ Tracy of Ohio State on Friday afternoon from the Barnes Tennis Center. 

The junior had the hot racquet early in the opener, bursting out to a 3-1 advantage until Tracy would counter by winning four consecutive games to take a 4-3 advantage. Papoe would battle back in the eighth game, tying things up at 4-4. Neither play gave an inch in games nine and ten as they battled the heat. But Tracy would find a way to take control, winning 6-4 to clinch the set. 

Set two started as a dogfight, as Papoe and Tracy played to a stalemate at 5-5. Despite the back and forth, Papoe would not let the second frame get away from him, winning six out of seven points in games eleven and twelve to take the set, 7-5, and push the match to a decisive third set. 

With the whirlwind second set secured, Papoe looked to take advantage of the momentum swing in the third. Tracy would have other ideas, however, taking a 3-1 lead into the fourth game, putting the pressure on the junior. Although the mojo was gone, Papoe stayed battle-tested, winning consecutive games to tie things up at three apiece. Tracy and Papoe would continue their tug of war late in the set by splitting the next four games, keeping things knotted at five. However, Tracy would take a tightly contested eleventh game to take a 6-5 lead before clinching the final set, 40-0, to move onto the semifinals. 

Papoe wraps up the ITA National Fall Championship with a 2-1 record, becoming the first Big Red men's tennis player to advance past the round of 16 in the tournament's history. The junior will wrap up the fall season next weekend at the Columbus Challenger in Ohio.