In its second competition of the year, the men’s tennis team produced a solid showing against teams from Columbia, Dartmouth and Yale at this past weekend’s Yale Invitational. The Red sent players to the finals of four draws, and won two titles on the weekend. Head coach Barry Schoonmaker was pleased with his team’s performance on the weekend.
“This weekend was a good competition for us. The level of competition was a lot tougher this weekend, with half the [Ivy] League there,” he said. “Columbia’s always one of the best teams, and so is Yale, and Dartmouth, while they’re not at the top this year, they’re never bad.”
Leading the way for the Red this past weekend was freshman Charn Bak who captured the “D” singles title in a hard-fought match against Dartmouth’s Travis Maier. After dropping the first set, 6-3, Bak fought back to take the final two sets 6-3 and 6-4, in a gritty display of determination on the court.
Another highlight on the weekend for Cornell was the performance of the Red’s “A” doubles team of Nicholas Brunner and Joshua Raff, who defeated Dartmouth’s No. 1 doubles team of Neal Bobba and Drew Dinkmeyer 8-5 in the final. Brunner also reached the semifinals of the “A” singles draw, before losing to the draw’s eventual winner, Yale’s Andrew Rosenfeld.
Brunner and Raff are so far undefeated on the season. In their march to the “A” doubles title last weekend they also beat the No. 1 teams from Columbia in the first round and Yale in the second round.
“They were another real bright spot for us on the weekend,” commented Schoonmaker on Raff and Brunner. “To beat the number ones from three teams is really good for two guys who’ve really just started their college careers.”
The Red also received strong performances from sophomores Brett McKeon and Ray Wu, both of whom reached the finals of their respective “B” and “C” singles draws. On his way to the “B” finals, McKeon notched a solid 6-3, 6-4 semifinal win over Yale’s Brandon Wai, one of their top recruits for the year. McKeon lost a tough three-set match to Columbia’s Jimmy Moore, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. Wu also turned in strong semifinal performance, beating Columbia’s Scott Robbin in dramatic three set match, winning the final set 7-4 in a tie-breaker. Wu fell to Columbia’s Michael Accordino in the “C” finals, 6-4, 6-1.
Cornell plays again next weekend at the ECAC championship, a tournament that also serves a qualifying event for the National Indoors.
“The competition was good for us this weekend,” said Schoonmaker, “and I think we’re in a position to do well at next weekend’s ECACs.”
Archived article by Paul Testa