The second weekend in April was a disappointing one for Cornell tennis, as the men’s and women’s teams combined to lose three of four matches over a two-day span. 

The men’s team entered the weekend in sole possession of second place in the Ivy League and ranked No. 68 nationally, but a loss to Yale on Friday afternoon halted the Red’s momentum and all but ended the team’s hopes for a conference championship. The men did bounce back, however, defeating Brown on Saturday to finish 1-1 on the weekend. Double trouble: The No. 1 doubles duo of juniors Andy Gauthier and Jeremy Feldman earned victories against both Yale and Brown over the weekend. - By: Matt Hintsa

The women’s team, meanwhile, posted its second consecutive winless weekend of the conference season, dropping home matches to No. 46 Yale on Friday and No. 65 Brown on Saturday to move to 1-4 in Ivy League play.

The men’s team hit the road this weekend in hopes of winning its four remaining conference matches and earning its first-ever Ivy League title. After losing to Yale, 5-2, however, the Red may have to wait another year before having a realistic shot at being crowned champions.

“From our point of view, ever since we lost to Columbia [a title] wasn’t in our hands. Columbia was in charge, so we just had to go out and do our job,” said junior Jon Jaklitsch. “If it falls our way then that is great, but there is nothing that we can really do about it right now. We’re just going to go out and try to win this weekend.”

The Red (16-7, 3-2) got off to a quick start against the Bulldogs (14-7, 3-1) in Hanover, Conn., on Friday, earning the doubles point with victories from juniors Andy Gauthier and Jeremy Feldman in No. 1 doubles, 8-2, and juniors Jon Fife and Evan Bernstein in No. 3 doubles, 8-3. 

Cornell didn’t fare as well in singles play, though, as the Bulldogs won five of six matches en route to the victory. Freshman Marc Powers defeated Jaklitsch in No. 1 singles, 7-5, 6-1, followed by a victory by John Huang, another freshman, over Gauthier in No. 2 singles, 6-1, 6-2. Bernstein recorded the Red’s only singles win on the afternoon, defeating sophomore Joel Samaha in the No. 5 spot, 6-1, 6-3. 

“[Yale’s] freshmen at 1, 2 and 4 [singles] are really, really good this year.” Jaklitsch said. “We knew they were good coming in, but we didn’t expect them to be game-changers for the team.”

After starting the weekend with a loss to Yale, a Cornell victory over Brown (10-13, 0-4) on Saturday became a near necessity, and the Red made sure to take care of business. 

Saturday’s match began in similar fashion to Friday’s contest, as the doubles pairs of Feldman and Gauthier and Fife and Bernstein earned victories in No. 1 and No. 3 doubles, respectively, to give Cornell the doubles point. The only difference between the two matches came in singles play, as the Red won four of the six singles matches against the Bears to earn the victory, 5-2.

“Brown is a really tough team,” Jaklitsch said. “They haven’t been doing that well in the Ivies, but they are always tough.”

Jaklitsch was in the No. 1 singles spot for the second consecutive day, getting the three-set win over Kendrick Au, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4. Gauthier participated in No. 2 singles once again, defeating Mike Hill, 6-2, 6-2. Feldman and Fife fell in No. 3 and No. 4 singles, respectively, but Bernstein and senior Ashish Bhandari picked up the slack, winning the final two singles matches over Luciano Musella and Timmy Klanke. The men’s team will wrap up its season next weekend with a match at Princeton on Friday afternoon before its home finale against Penn on Sunday.

The women’s team also faced off against Yale (14-5, 3-1) and Brown (15-6, 3-1) this weekend, with slightly worse results than its male counterparts. 

The Red (11-9, 1-4) opened the weekend against the Bulldogs at the Reis Tennis Center on Friday afternoon, going winless in all nine matches for a 7-0 loss. The matches were closer than the final score would indicate, however, as the Red lost three separate sets on tiebreakers. Freshman Christine Ordway started in No. 1 singles for Cornell, falling to Vicky Brook, 6-1, 7-6 (5). Freshman Kristin Lim was in the No. 2 position, losing to Stephanie Kent, 6-2, 7-6 (2). Cornell’s closest contest came in No. 6 singles, as freshman Kirsten Kohagan took Sarah Lederhandler to three sets before losing, 2-6, 7-5, 10-8.

“We all fought really hard and battled really hard,” Ordway said. “Even though our score wasn’t that close against Yale, everyone had really close matches and was really competitive.”

The Red was more competitive in its second match of the weekend, yet the result remained the same, as Cornell fell to Brown, 5-2, on Saturday. Despite a victory by the pair of Lim and senior Natalia Sanchez in No. 1 doubles, 8-4, Cornell dropped the point to the Bears to begin the match. In singles play, the Red dropped its first four matches, including three-set losses by Ordway in No. 2 singles, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, and Sanchez in No. 3 singles, 6-2, 6-7 (3), (10-3). Senior Susan Sullivan and junior Leah Seyburn earned Cornell its only two singles points on the day, winning in No. 5 singles, 6-4, 6-0, and No. 6 singles, 6-3, 7-6 (3), respectively.

“[The Brown match] was so tight and really came down to a few points in a few matches,” Ordway said. “It will hopefully give us confidence going into the last few matches because we know we are competitive.”

The women’s team will conclude its Ivy League season next weekend when it hosts Princeton on Friday afternoon and then travels to Philadelphia for a date with Penn on Sunday.