The men’s and women’s tennis teams both dropped their Ivy League matches this weekend to Penn and Columbia, respectively. The men (13-5 overall, 0-1 Ivy) lost their Ivy opener to Columbia 4-3 in a close game while the women (2-8, 0-2) dropped their game to No. 39 Penn, with a score of 6-1.
Juniors Zach Gallin and Scott Spencer, and freshman Brett McKeon earned wins for the Red in singles play, but the doubles teams could not pull through.
As stressed earlier in the season, the one doubles point can be crucial to any victory. Cornell won in the first doubles spot, with Gallin and Spencer defeating their opponents 8-6. The other doubles teams did not fare as well, however, losing 8-1 and 8-3 at the second and third spots.
Without the doubles point, the Red lost the match. Instead, Columbia won two out of the three doubles matches, earning the decisive game-winning point. Columbia’s top singles players also beat out junior Julian Cheng 6-1, 6-1. The Lions won at the third and fifth singles spots as well.
Lady Netters
The women were outmatched against No. 39 Penn, and only secured one win from the sixth singles player sophomore Melissa Tu. Tu pulled off an impressive win over Penn’s Michelle Yeh, blanking Yeh in the second set. She won 6-4, and 6-0. Penn’s number one singles player, recently ranked No. 19 in the country, defeated sophomore Akane Kokubo 6-1, 6-1. Cornell also lost all three doubles matches.
The women return to action on April 4 against Dartmouth at the Reis center and the men play tomorrow at Penn.
Archived article by Josh Dormont