ITHACA, N.Y. – The second of three consecutive road trips continues this weekend for the Cornell men's tennis team as it heads to Pennsylvania for the 2024 ECAC Indoor Championships. The three-day event begins Friday at the Hamlin/Hecht Tennis Centers.

Cornell will head into this weekend's tournament as the No. 1 seed, and its first matchup will be against No. 8 Temple at 9 a.m. Friday.

LAST TIME OUT: BIG RED SUFFERS FIRST LOSS OF SPRING SEASON TO LOUISVILLE
The Big Red will look to get back on track after falling to Louisville, 6-1, last Friday from the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center. Cornell battled hard in doubles as Samuel Paquette and Petar Teodorovic rallied past the Cardinals' Will Mayew and Piet Steveker in No. 3 doubles (6-4), setting up a tiebreaker at No. 2 doubles for the first point of the day between Radu Papoe/Eric Verdes and Louisville's Miguel Avendano/Andre Steinbach. Both duos went back and forth, splitting the first ten games to stay deadlocked at 5-5. Papoe and Verdes could not finish the job as Avendano and Steinbach won, 7-5, to take a 1-0 lead heading into singles.

Louisville kept the momentum going early in singles, jumping out to a 3-0 lead via consecutive straight-set sweeps for Piet Steveker over Nathan Mao (6-4, 7-5) and Will Mayew defeating Teodorovic (6-3, 7-5). Senior Bradley Paliska was the last hope for a potential Big Red comeback at No. 4 singles but could not pull it off as Andre Steinbach took home a 6-4, 7-5 victory to clinch the match win for the Cardinals. Cornell kept dueling in singles despite the clinch for Louisville, as Adit Sinha (5-7, 5-7) and Verdes (3-6, 6-4, 4-6) battled hard at No.2 and No. 6 singles but could not pick up a win.

Cornell's last chance for a victory fell in the hands of Radu Papoe, who matched up with Etienne Donne at No. 1 singles. Papoe struggled in the opener, as Donne took a 6-2 win before staging a massive comeback, taking the second set in a tiebreaker (7-6 (7-4)) to set up a winner-take-all third set. And with the pressure on, Papoe delivered, winning 6-4 to earn the lone win for the Big Red on the weekend.

ECAC CHAMPS REWIND: CORNELL TAKES DOWN PENN, EARNS THIRD IN HANOVER
Senior Vlad Melnic was the hero for the Big Red during last season's ECAC Indoor Championships, knocking off Penn's Kevin Zhu at No. 2 singles to break a 3-3 tie and give Cornell a third-place finish. The Big Red's bronze showing was the team's best finish since winning the 2020 Indoor Championships at the Reis Tennis Center.

Cornell earned the first point of the day in doubles, as Melnic and Radu Papoe won a 6-4 decision over Manfredi Graziani and Aditya Gupta to secure a 1-0 lead for the Big Red heading into singles action. Penn grabbed two wins off the bat from Manfredi Graziani defeating Nathan Mao at No. 5 singles, 6-4, 6-2, and older brother Edoardo's 6-2, 7-5 win over Papoe from the No. 1 position, taking the lead, 2-1, and putting the pressure on.

The Big Red would rebound after the setback, as Adit Sinha earned a pair of 6-4 set victories over Harsh Parikh to tie things at two and a rebounding win for Paquette over Baylor Sai after dropping the first set, securing 6-3 and 6-2 victories over the second and third set to push Cornell ahead, 3-2. But when Aditya Gupta knocked off Petar Teodorovic in three sets (6-3, 1-6, 7-5) at the No. 3 position, the No. 2 match between Zhu and Melnic became the deciding factor. And after each player split the opening two sets at 7-6, Melnic slammed the door shut, coasting to a 6-1 victory in the decisive third to give Cornell the victory.

INSIDE THE OPPONENT: TEMPLE
Cornell and Temple have matched up five times, with the Big Red holding a slight 3-2 edge in the series. Friday's matchup will be the first time either team has faced each other since Cornell took a 6-1 victory on March 3, 2012, from the Reis Tennis Center.

The Owls come into the weekend with a 3-4 overall record and are looking to keep their momentum going after a 6-1 victory over Siena last Saturday. Temple burst out to a 3-0 lead after sweeping in doubles and straight-set victories by senior Dante Russo (No. 1) and junior Martim Marujo (No. 2) to open singles before a 6-1, 6-2 win for Adam Kresina over Duarte Melo secured the dual victory. The only blemish on the day for the Owls came from Siena's Maxwell Arci, who took down Erden Er (6-1, 7-6) at No. 3 singles.

UP NEXT
If Cornell wins Friday's opener, the team will move on to the semifinals against the winner of #4 Penn and #5 Dartmouth on Saturday at 3 p.m. A loss puts them against the loser of the Quakers and the Big Green at 9 a.m. Saturday in the consolation bracket.