FORT WORTH, Texas -- The road to an NCAA Team Championship begins Friday when the No. 35-ranked Cornell men's tennis team meets No. 28 Arkansas in an opening-round clash in the Fort Worth Regional hosted by Texas Christian University.
#28 ARKANSAS vs. #35 CORNELL
SITE: Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center - Fort Worth, Texas
DATE and TIME: Friday, May 3 at 2 p.m. CT
RECORDS: Arkansas (21-11, 5-7 SEC), Cornell (18-6, 5-2 Ivy League)
SERIES RECORD: Arkansas leads, 1-0
WATCH LIVE: Playsight
LIVE STATS: StatBroadcast
REGULAR SEASON IN REVIEW: BIG RED SLAYS SEVEN RANKED OPPONENTS
The Big Red is coming off a regular season to remember with an 18-6 record in Ivy League action. Cornell's 18 regular season wins are the most under head coach Silviu Tanasoiu since a 22-4 mark during the 2016-17 season. Cornell also went 5-2 in conference play to earn a share of third in the conference standings with Princeton.
Ranked matches were the theme for Cornell with 10 of its 24 opponents in the top 75 of the ITA rankings at some point throughout the season. Cornell put forward a 7-3 record in those matches, highlighted by snapping then-No. 16 Michigan State's seven-match home winning streak and taking down then-No. 9 Columbia in its Ivy League opener by a 6-1 margin in Ithaca. Seven opponents also made the NCAA Tournament (Columbia, Harvard, Michigan State, Middle Tennessee, Oklahoma, Princeton, and VCU).
Looking at singles, the Big Red finished 89-38 as a unit. Junior Radu Papoe led the way, as the No. 13 ranked player in DI finished 15-3 overall and took down seven ranked opponents. Papoe, who comes into the weekend on a four-match winning streak, most recently knocked off then-No. 105 Vignesh Gogineni of Yale in straight sets to close the regular season. Freshman Felipe Pinzon (13-1) and junior Adit Sinha (10-5) are the other Big Red singles players with 10 or more victories this season.
Sliding over to doubles, Cornell put together a 37-22 mark over eight teams. Papoe and upperclassmen teammate Samuel Paquette have been the Big Red's top pair at 10-4 from the No. 3 position. The duo paired up for the first time on Feb. 25 at Oklahoma and stayed together ever since. Papoe and Paquette also have won three out of their last four matches. Freshman Eric Verdes and sophomore Petar Teodorovic have been a mainstay at the No. 2 spot at 9-5 overall since being put together for the first time against the Sooners. The pair have won four out of its last six matches that have finished, including a 6-3 win over then No. 32-ranked Nicolas Kotzen and Max Westphal of Columbia. Nathan Mao and Sinha round out the top double tandems with a 7-8 mark from the No. 1 spot and have won two out of its last three matches.
NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Big Red has made the NCAA Team Championships three times in program history before this year's version. Cornell earned its first appearance in 2011 after winning the outright Ivy League title with a 26-5 overall record and a 7-0 mark in conference action. The team headed to the Lexington Regional to battle Louisville but could not handle the Cardinals, losing 4-0. Cornell's second appearance in the tourney came via winning a share of the Ivy League title at 22-4 and 6-1 in conference action. Earning an at-large bid into the championships, the Big Red secured its first regional win in program history with a 4-0 sweep of Rice before being swept by host Baylor in the Waco Regional final.
Cornell's final championships appearance came last season, earning another at-large berth to the Durham Regional after finishing the regular season 17-7 and 4-3 in the Ivy League. The Big Red had to sweat out a 4-3 victory in the first round against No. 23 Auburn thanks to a three-set win in No. 3 singles for Petar Teodorovic over No. 111 Finn Murgett (7-5, 4-6, 6-4). Cornell would fall to the host Blue Devils, 4-1, in the second round.
INSIDER: ARKANSAS
Cornell and Arkansas have battled only once in either team's program history at the 2019 ITA Kickoff Weekend in Columbus, Ohio. The Razorbacks had to come back from a 2-0 deficit to pull off a 4-3 victory over the Big Red with consecutive wins at the No. 2 and No. 6 matches to secure the victory. It will also be the second time Cornell will face an SEC opponent in tournament history.
The Razorbacks made it into the championships as an at-large selection with a 21-11 overall record and a 5-7 mark in SEC play. Seventeen of its 32 matches were against ranked opponents. Arkansas went 8-9 in those head-to-head battles, including a 4-3 victory over No. 8 Texas A&M in College Station and a 4-1 loss at No. 5 Tennessee. Cornell and Arkansas also have one common opponent on their schedules in Middle Tennessee State. The Razorbacks fell to the Blue Raiders (4-1), while Cornell earned a 4-2 decision.
Arkansas' singles unit has been strong, posting a 102-58 record in dual matches. Senior Stefanos Savva leads the Razorbacks with a 17-8 mark in dual matches, with 13 of those wins coming from the No. 4 position. Melvin Manuel is right behind at 14-9 from primarily the No. 3 position. Gerard Planelles has played most of his matches from the No. 1 spot, earning a 6-5 mark, and is 14-10 overall. The sophomore is also one of two singles players in the Razorbacks lineup who are ranked (No. 93). Bozo Barun is the other at No. 112. The Wake Forest transfer is 9-12 in dual matches as a Razorback so far. Arkansas' doubles teams have earned a 36-31 record over the spring season. Bozo Barun and Jared Horwood are the top duo with a 5-7 mark and currently No. 30 in the latest ITA rankings. The sophomore and grad student will look to snap a three-match losing streak as a pair.
UP NEXT
The winner of Arkansas vs. Cornell battles the winner of #4 TCU and UC Irvine in the second round on Saturday, May 4 at 5 p.m. CT.
