By OLIVIA WITTELS
The men’s tennis team gave a solid performance at the Farnsworth/Princeton Invitational this past weekend, with members of the squad earning spots in the finals of two singles brackets, the finals of a consolation bracket and the quarterfinals and semifinals of three other draws. Leading the pack was freshman Chris Vrabel, who defeated Columbia’s Eric Rubin, 7-6, 6-2, giving him a singles title in the Pagoda Draw. Freshman Colin Sinclair lost in the finals of the Cordish Draw to St. John’s Vaidlk Munshaw, 6-4, 6-3, and freshman Bernardo Casares Rosa fell in a super tie breaker, 6-2, 3-6, 14-12, to Princeton’s Alex Day in the finals of the Pagoda consolation bracket. The fact that three of the Red’s newest recruits gave such strong showings this past weekend certainly points to the talent of its 2017 recruiting class. “I think they’re just really eager to prove themselves,” said junior Alex Sidney, who lost a three-setter in the semifinals of his draw to Princeton’s Tom Colautti. “They’re proving themselves not only to the coach, but to the rest of the team, and the rest of the schools in the Ivy League. … They’re really going to be assets for our team this upcoming season.” “They are a bunch of good players and they’re good people as well. They’ve been working hard, are very focused and get the job done,” added senior Alex Wilton. Head coach Silviu Tanasoiu was also impressed with how the freshmen implemented what they have been working on in practice into competitive match play. “From a coaching standpoint, for myself and our assistant coach, it made our job very easy … I felt they made very good adjustments throughout the tournament and we were very pleased from that standpoint,” said Tanasoiu. Tanasoiu also pointed out that this weekend marked the very first collegiate tournament for his freshmen. “They were able to do very well at their first time representing Cornell,” he said. “One of the things we talked about before this tournament was to compete — to compete [for] every point, every shot, every single chance they get once they’re on the court to represent the university … And I felt like [they did] that to perfection from the beginning until the very end.” A few of the Red’s regular starters were injured and did not attend the tournament this
Photo: Brian Stern / Staff PhotographerJunior Alex Sidney said the Red’s freshman class stands out in the Ivy League.