ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell men's tennis team closed its home non-conference slate with a sweep of Quinnipiac (7-0) and Penn State (7-0) on Sunday from the Reis Tennis Center. With the victories, the Big Red jumps to 11-4 overall and extends its winning streak to four consecutive matches for the second time this spring.
QUINNIPIAC RECAP
Cornell would quickly take the momentum starting in doubles, collecting victories at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions to head into singles play up 1-0. Eric Verdes and Petar Teodorovic teamed up to snap its two-match losing streak as a pair with a 6-2 decision over Finn Burridge and Carlos Braun Simo, while Radu Papoe and Samuel Paquette won their eighth match together this spring with a hard-fought 6-4 victory over Donovan Brown and Ayato Arakaki.
That stream of winning continued early in singles for Nathan Mao, claiming a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Arakaki at the No. 2 position to push Cornell ahead 2-0. Paquette fed off Mao's win with a straight-set sweep of his own from the No. 4 position (6-3, 6-0) to snap a two-match skid and put the Big Red a win away from clinching the match in the first-ever matchup between Cornell and Quinnipiac. Sophomore Aman Sharma had the luxury of clinching the morning slate for Cornell by earning his first win since Jan 28 against Le Moyne with a 6-3, 6-3 decision over Burridge.Â
Despite the match being in hand, Cornell kept its foot on the gas pedal, looking for its first 7-0 sweep since its spring opening weekend match against the University at Buffalo. Verdes earned his fourth win in five tries this spring with a straight-sets sweep of Csanad Nyaradi at No. 6 singles to put Cornell up 5-0. The last two matches were a battle until the end, as Noah Eisenberg (No. 3) and Teodorovic (No. 1) needed to put in a little extra effort. Eisenberg would keep his perfect spring record intact at 4-0 with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 decision over Sooh to put the ball in Teodorovic's court. And the sophomore delivered, taking a three-set marathon (6-3, 3-6, 10-8) to clinch the sweep for the Big Red.Â
PENN STATEÂ RECAP
Cornell once again would take the first point of the afternoon in doubles. Verdes and Teodorovic picked up their second win of the day with a 6-3 win over Stefan Simeunovic and Jack Martuccio, while Papoe and Paquette snagged a 6-4 victory over Miko Eala and Alexander Sterin to take a 1-0 lead into singles action.
The Big Red kept it rolling early in singles, as Eisenberg and Sinha earned straight-set wins from the No. 6 and No. 2 positions to take a 3-0 lead. Sinha's 6-4, 6-1 win over Nolan Ranger extended his winning streak to a team-high six straight matches.Â
Verdes made his second appearance in the singles lineup of the doubleheader from the No. 5 spot and earned a 6-4, 6-3 win over Ari Cotoulas to put Cornell within one point of the Sunday sweep. Junior captain Papoe would clinch the match for the Big Red a couple of minutes later by defeating Miko Eala (6-2, 7-5) from the top spot in singles.Â
Freshman Felipe Pinzon followed Papoe with his seventh win of the spring in a sweep of Jack Martuccio to put Cornell one match win away from grabbing a match sweep. And with all eyes turned to the No. 3 position, Bradley Paliska got it done, taking a 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) victory to close out the Big Red's non-conference home slate with a weekend sweep.
UP NEXT
Cornell closes its non-conference slate with a weekend road trip to Virginia and Indiana to battle Virginia Commonwealth University (Friday, March 22 at 10 a.m.) and Indiana University (Sunday, March 24 at 3 p.m.). Both matches will have live scoring available via StatBroadcast.
