CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- The Cornell men's tennis team dropped a tightly contested 4-3 decision to Michigan on Friday morning at the Virginia Tennis Complex on the opening day of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. The Big Red slipped to 2-1 on the season, while Michigan evened its record at 1-1.

Cornell grabbed the early edge by securing the doubles point, winning two of three matches. The tandem of Rethin Pranav Senthil Kumar and Rushil Khosla earned a 6-4 victory at No. 2, and Felipe Pinzon paired with Aman Sharma to notch a 7-5 win at No. 3 to clinch the point. Michigan opened with a 6-3 decision at the top spot to put the Wolverines in good position, but the Big Red claimed the opening point with a strong closing flurry.

In singles, Cornell picked up straight-set wins from Pinzon and Sharma. Pinzon cruised past Nicholas Steiglehner 6-2, 6-3 at No. 3, while Sharma followed with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Arnav Bhandari at No. 5 to push Cornell in front, 3-0.

Michigan responded with four consecutive singles wins to complete the comeback. Pierce Shaya topped Khosla 6-4, 7-5 at No. 6, and seventh-ranked Max Dahlin rallied past Rodrigo Fernandes 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 at No. 1. Mert Oral added a 7-5, 7-5 win over Senthil Kumar at No. 4 to even the match as the attention turned to court two. Eric Verdes rallied from down a set and evened the score at 6-6 late, but Bjorn Swenson closed the door with a 7-2 super tiebreaker victory to claim the No. 2.

Cornell will face either No. 5 Virginia or Indiana in the consolation match on Saturday, Jan. 24 at 10 a.m.