CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- No. 20 Harvard rallied after dropping the doubles point to knock off No. 36 Cornell 4-1 on Sunday afternoon at the Beren Tennis Center. The Crimson improved to 19-6 (5-2 Ivy), while the Big Red fell to 15-7 (5-2 Ivy). Cornell and Harvard, along with Princeton, all finished tied for second in the conference with identical 5-2 records.
Cornell had the upset in mind when it took care of business at the top two spots in the doubles lineup to grab the initial point. At No. 1,
Rushil Khosla and
Eric Verdes handed No. 55 Daniel Milavsky and David Lins their first loss in 15 contests with a decisive 6-3 triumph. That clinched the point after
Nathan Mao and
Radu Papoe earned a 6-2 win at No. 2, with
Adit Sinha and
Jack McCarthy on the verge of the sweep with the third doubles match going unfinished.
Harvard rallied in singles, winning in first set tiebreakers in the top three spots in the lineup to grab the momentum back. After straight set victories at No. 5 and 4 to take the lead at 2-1, Harvard claimed victories in both ranked matchups at the top of the lineup. The Crimson's Daniel Milavsky, ranked No. 39, topped All-American
Radu Papoe (No. 49) by a 7-6(2), 6-4 contest to put the Crimson on the edge of victory and clinched the team triumph with a 7-6(4), 7-5 win by No. 103 Benjamin Privara over No. 101
Adit Sinha to halt the match.
The Big Red will find out about its NCAA Tournament hopes when the draw is announced on Monday, April 28 at 5 p.m., with the tournament beginning on the weekend of May 2. The postseason will be hosted at the campuses of the top 16 teams in the nation.