ITHACA, N.Y. -- In their final match in front of the home crowd at Reis Tennis Center, three Cornell men's tennis seniors refused to go down, picking up three-set victories on Senior Day to hand Princeton its first Ivy League loss of the season on Friday afternoon. The 39th-ranked Big Red picked up a 5-2 victory over No. 30 Princeton to allow the home team to climb into second place in the Ancient Eight standings behind unbeaten Columbia.

After Cornell claimed the doubles point with wins at No. 2 and 3, the Tigers evened it up at 1-1 and 2-2 with three other matches heading to a decisive third set. With just seniors on the court for the Big Red, Adit Sinha claimed an emotional victory over No. 40 Paul Inchauspe after dropping the first set to put Cornell on the verge of victory. Classmates Radu Papoe at No. 1 and Nathan Mao at No. 6 were up late, with Papoe closing out the win with his 7-6, 3-6, 6-4 triumph over No. 67 Fnu Nidunjianzan. Moments later, Mao put an exclamation point on the victory by coming back from a one-set deficit of his own with a 6-7, 7-6, 6-3 triumph over Milan Markovits on court six.

Felipe Pinzon made quick work of Evan Wen at No. 4, winning 6-3, 6-4 for the only straight-sets triumph for Cornell. With the score 2-2 and the Tigers up a set in two others, the picture looked bleak for a minute. Mao's victory in the second set tiebreaker kept the Big Red in the fight at nearly the same time Sinha evened his match against Inchauspe at the second spot on the ladder. Cornell played from the front in both of those matches, while Papoe, the first All-American in the school's long and storied history, fittingly wrapped up the match to allow the Big Red to improve to 13-6 (3-1 Ivy).
 
With the win, Cornell is now tied with Harvard and Princeton at 3-1, a game behind unbeaten Columbia (4-0). The Lions will play both the Crimson and the Lions over the final two weeks. Cornell returns to action when it visits No. 47 Penn on Sunday, April 13 at 1 p.m. 

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#39 Cornell 5, #30 Princeton 2
Singles
1. #52 Radu Pape (COR) defeated #67 Fnu Nidunjianzan (PRIN) 7-6, 3-6, 6-4
2. Adit Sinha (COR) defeated #40 Paul Inchauspe (PRIN) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
3. Landon Ardila (PRIN) defeated Jack McCarthy (COR) 6-3, 6-2 
4. Ellis Short (PRIN) defeated Rodrigo Fernandez (COR) 6-3, 6-4 
5. Felipe Pinzon (COR) defeated Evan Wen (PRIN) 6-4, 6-3
6. Nathan Mao (COR) defeated Milan Markovits (PRIN) 6-7, 7-6, 6-3
Order of finish: 3, 5, 4, 2, 1, 6

Doubles
1. Rushil Khosla/Eric Verdes (COR) vs. #41 Paul Inchauspe/Filippos Astreinidis (PRIN) 3-5 unfinished
2. Nathan Mao/Radu Papoe (COR) defeated Ellis Short/Fnu Nidunjianzan (PRIN) 6-3
3. Adit Sinha/Jack McCarthy (COR) defeated Landon Ardila/Aleksandar Mitric (PRIN) 6-2
Order of finish: 3, 2