NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- The No. 33-ranked Cornell men's tennis team (18-7, 5-2 Ivy) closed its regular season in the win column, taking down No. 68 Yale (11-11, 2-4 Ivy) by a score of 4-3 on Sunday from the Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center. Cornell's victory over the Bulldogs solidifies its best record in conference play since also going 5-2 in a tie for second in 2019. 

The battle between the conference foes started immediately in doubles. Cornell took the momentum early from the No. 3 spot between Radu Papoe/Samuel Paquette and Jim Ji/Roee Benya. The junior and senior duo made quick work of the Bulldogs, jumping out to a 4-0 lead before cruising to a 6-2 victory. Papoe's and Paquette's victory also puts them as the first Big Red tandem to hit ten wins this spring. Yale returned the favor in the No. 1 position in a back-and-forth affair with Theo Dean/Aiden Reilly versus Nathan Mao/Adit Sinha. The duos split the opening six games before Dean and Reilly took the next two to go ahead 5-3 and eventually earn a 6-4 decision. Focused turned to the No. 2 match pairing Petar Teodorovic and Eric Verdes against Vignesh Goginen and Eric Li to decide the doubles point. Much like the No. 2 match, both squads split the first eight games to be deadlocked at 4-4. Goginen and Li grabbed the next point, putting the pressure on the Big Red. But Teodorovic and Verdes perservered by snatching the next three games to secure its ninth victory as a duo and a 1-0 lead for Cornell heading into singles.

Yale started with the first victory in singles from Eric Li, who swept Teodorovic (6-0, 6-3) to hand the sophomore his third consecutive loss and tie the match at one. The Big Red fought back off the racket of its junior captain in Papoe, earning his 15th win in a 6-2, 6-2 sweep of VigneshGoginen. Since arriving in Ithaca in 2021, Papoe has logged 46 regular-season career victories in singles. Cornell continued its role in singles a match later from Nathan Mao. The junior pushed his winning streak to a season-high of four in a 6-3, 6-3 sweep against Aidan Reilly to put the Big Red a point away. The clinching honor went to Felipe Pinzon, as the freshman rebounded from a 5-1 deficit to take the first in a tiebreaker and then won the final three games in the second to grab a 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 win over Luke Neal. The victory over Neal is Pinzon's 13th of the season and extends his winning streak to a team-best of seven. 

Cornell and Yale did end up finishing the rest of the singles matchups. Theo Dean took a three-set marathon (6-7 (7-5), 6-2, 10-7) over No. 89 Adit Sinha from the No. 2 spot, while Yale's Jim Ji earned a sweep of Bradley Paliska in the No. 4 slot. 

With the victory, Cornell closes its regular season with 18 victories, its most since having 21 during the 2016-17 season. The Big Red earned a spot in the NCAA Team Championships that season and its first tournament victory in program history over Rice in the opening round.

UP NEXT
Cornell will wait and see if its name will be called during the 2024 NCAA DI Men's Tennis Team Selection Show scheduled for Monday, April 29 at 6:30 p.m. on NCAA.org. If the Big Red is selected, it will be the first time the team will appear in consecutive team championships in program history.