Men’s Tennis Triumphs In First Two Matches

The weather may be cold outside, but the men’s tennis team was hot inside the cozy confines of the Reis Tennis Center as they dominated Niagara, 6-1, and edged Buffalo, 4-3, Saturday afternoon.

Against Niagara, the Red swept all three doubles matches and went 5-1 in singles competition. Three Cornell players won their matches in straight sets.

Freshmen Jon Jaklitsch, Jeremy Feldman and Andy Gauthier, sophomore Jon Fife and junior Peter Kung all won their individual matches. [1]Eyes on the ball: The men’s tennis team rode solid performances from its freshmen to back-to-back season-opening wins Saturday.

“We knew we were a better team than Niagara,” Feldman said. “We were practicing well all week and the whole team was confident going into the match.”

Senior Walter Garcia earned the only point for the Purple Eagles in the first singles match-up, defeating junior Marc Asch, 6-3, 6-1.

Against Buffalo, the Red won all three of the doubles matches to escape with a slim 4-3 victory and begin the season 2-0. Cornell won despite suffering defeats at the top three singles positions, but Jaklitsch, Fife and Feldman each won their singles matches to start the season with 2-0 individual records.

“I played well in both wins,” Feldman said. “It gave me a lot of confidence [which] will pay dividends later on in the season.”

Cornell’s top duo, junior Kyle Doppelt and senior Weston Nichols won the first doubles match, 8-5, over freshman Marcelo Mazzetto and sophomore Kiril Kolomyts.