Princeton University
Cornell
Players Mentioned
Colautti's Win Seals ECAC Opener for Men's Tennis
February 14, 2015 | Men's Tennis
ECAC Championship Video Stream
Though the Princeton men's tennis team has clinched its best start since 1979, the Tigers' first concern is moving forward in the ECAC Championship. Princeton took its first step Saturday morning with a 4-3 win over Cornell, setting up a semifinal match with No. 30 Harvard at 4 p.m. Sunday, following the 8 a.m. consolation match between Cornell and Yale.
Cornell opened with a doubles-point win and took a 2-0 lead after a singles win on court five. Zack McCourt, newly re-introduced to the ITA national rankings, got Princeton's first point with a straight-set win on court one, and Kial Kaiser squared it with his straight-set win on court six.
That left Josh Yablon, Alex Day and Tom Colautti to decide it. Yablon closed out a straight-set win to put Princeton ahead, and Day's and Colautti's matches went to third sets, Colautti's after fighting off seven match points to take the tiebreaker 9-7. While Day lost his third set in a tiebreaker to Sam Fleck to make it 3-3, Colautti won his second tiebreaker of the afternoon, giving up just one point in the breaker to clinch the match.
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(57) Princeton (6-0) vs. (63) Cornell (3-4) Feb. 14, 2015 • Cambridge, Mass. |
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Doubles
| 1 | Colautti/Gamble (P) | |
Casares Rosa/Vrabel (C) | 6-4 |
| 2 | McCourt/Ben Tso (P) | DNF | Fleck/Sinclair (C) | 5-5 |
| 3 | Day/Yablon (P) | |
Nguyen/Vinti (C) | 7-5 |
Singles
| 1 | (117) Zack McCourt (P) | |
Stefan Vinti (C) | 6-3, 6-4 |
| 2 | Tom Colautti (P) | |
Bernardo Casares Rosa (C) | 3-6, 7-6(7), 7-6(1) |
| 3 | Alex Day (P) | |
Sam Fleck (C) | 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(6) |
| 4 | Josh Yablon (P) | |
Colin Sinclair (C) | 6-4, 7-5 |
| 5 | Luke Gamble (P) | |
Christopher Vrabel (C) | 6-3, 7-6(3) |
| 6 | Kial Kaiser (P) | |
Quoc Daniel Nguyen (C) | 6-4, 7-6(1) |
| Next match: Sun., Feb. 15, 4 p.m. vs. Harvard, ECAC semifinals |
| Match notes: Princeton's first-round win at the ECAC Championship is its first since 2013; the Tigers opened the 2014 tournament with a loss to Columbia ... Princeton will be facing a higher-ranked opponent for the first time this season in No. 30 Harvard |
| Order of finish: Doubles: 1,3; Singles: 5,1,6,4,3,2 |
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Coach Billy Pate on the match: "This was a great college tennis match and a fun one to be a part of. Cornell played very well and every court in singles and doubles was exceptionally competitive. Both teams had chances to get the fourth point at various times. It's important for us to embrace these close battled because we'll have several of them as the year progresses. Once again, it was a great performance by Tom (Colautti), who seems to find a way to get the victory when the pressure mounts. We'll get some rest and be ready for Harvard tomorrow." |