The men’s tennis team wraps up its regular season this weekend, with a trip to Pennsylvania, and a match-up at home against Princeton.
The Red (15-3, 2-3 Ivy) is coming off a weekend of mixed fortunes. The men suffered a heartbreaking 4-3 loss to Brown, but rebounded the following day with a resounding defeat of Yale. While the defeat to Brown eliminated the team’s shot at the Ivy League title, the men still have plenty to play for.
For the three senior tri-captains on the team, Mike Halperin, Greg Artz, and Russ Gimelstob, this weekend is likely to be the last time that they line up for the Red. Halperin and Artz have been instrumental in the success of Cornell tennis in the past few years, while doubles expert Gimelstob has also done his part.
Halperin has had a glittering career at Cornell, culminating with last season, when he was named Ivy League Player of the Year. He currently holds a 10-3 record this year playing at the No. 1 position. Teammate Artz, who has occupied the No. 2 slot for much of the past two years, has also quietly carved out a stellar Cornell career, with a singles record of 8-6 this season. Gimelstob, who has been one of the top doubles players in the team, enters the final weekend of the year holding an overall 10-5 record in doubles.
On Friday afternoon, the men travel to Philadelphia to try and repeat their feat of last season, when Halperin won both his singles and doubles matches in leading the Red to a 4-3 mark. They then return home for the season finale against Ivy Leaguers Princeton. The match-up against Princeton could provide head coach Barry Schoonmaker with an indication of how far his team has really come this year. Last spring, the men fell 6-1 to a rampant Princeton squad.
Regardless of the outcome of this weekend’s matches, it has been a successful spring for Cornell tennis. The 13 wins this season already represent an improvement from last year’s successful 12-8 campaign. With a 2-3 record in the Ivy League this year, the men need just one win to improve on last year’s 2-5 mark. When the curtain falls on the tennis season Sunday afternoon at the Reis Tennis Center, the three seniors can go out holding their heads high, knowing that they have made a difference to Cornell tennis.
Archived article by Soo Kim