HOUSTON — UTSA dropped a 4-3 decision to No. 60 Cornell on Saturday afternoon at the George R. Brown Tennis Center on the Rice campus.
The Roadrunners (1-1) grabbed the doubles point to start the day and then won two of the first four completed singles matches, but the Big Red (1-0) claimed the final two contests, including a three-set thriller at No. 3, to secure the win.
UTSA’s duo of Diogo Casa and Joel Rubio scored a 6-2 win over Kyle Berman and Sam Fleck at No. 3 doubles to counter a 6-2 victory for Bernardo Casares Rosa and Chris Vrabel at the top spot, sending the doubles decision to the second court. There, Yannick Junger and Tomas Stillman improved to 2-0 on the short season with a 6-3 triumph against Colin Sinclair and Stefan Vinti to stake the Birds to a 1-0 lead.
Vrabel scored a 6-3, 6-2 win at No. 4 to knot the match at 1-1, but Stillman, the 42nd-ranked player in the country, remained undefeated in singles with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Fleck at No. 1. Joao Riquelme answered a Big Red win on the fifth court with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Karim Arem at No. 6 to hand UTSA a 3-2 advantage.
Cornell responded with a 6-4, 6-2 win by Casares Rosa at No. 2, turning the battle at Court 3 into the decisive match. Vinti won the first game, 6-4, and Junger answered with a 6-3 victory, but Vinti outlasted the UTSA senior, 6-3, in the third set to clinch the match for the Big Red.
The Roadrunners will host Old Dominion in their home opener at 2 p.m. next Friday Jan. 23, at the UTSA Tennis Center.
#60 Cornell 4, UTSA 3
Doubles
1. Casares-Rosa/Vrabel (CU) def. Brand/Moreiras (UTSA) 6-2
2. Junger/Stillman (UTSA) def. Sinclair/Vinti (CU) 6-3
3. Casa/Rubio (UTSA) def. Berman/Fleck (CU) 6-2
Singles
1. #42 Tomas Stillman (UTSA) def. Sam Fleck (CU) 6-3, 6-1
2. Bernardo CasaresRosa (CU) def. Diogo Casa (UTSA) 6-4, 6-2
3. Stefan Vinti (CU) def. Yannick Junger (UTSA) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
4. Chris Vrabel (CU) def. Tito Moreiras (UTSA) 6-3, 6-2
5. Colin Sinclair (CU) def. Joel Rubio (UTSA) 6-4, 6-1
6. Joao Riquelme (UTSA) def. Karim Arem (CU) 6-2, 6-3