The Yale men's tennis team opened play at the ECAC Indoor Championship with a hard-fought 4-1 loss to Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y. The sixth-seeded Bulldogs took the third-seeded Big Red to three sets in four of the six singles matches.
 
Michael Sun earned Yale's point by posting a gritty 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win over Cornell's Alafia Ayeni in the No. 1 singles position. The Bulldogs also got a win from the doubles team of Aidan Reilly and Theo Dean. The Big Red, though, won the other two matches to capture the doubles point.
 
"I'm very happy with our effort this evening," said Yale head coach Chris Drake. "We battled what I think is a top 25 level team on their home courts to the very end. Congrats to Cornell - they were too good tonight.  A big win for Michael Sun over one of the best players in college tennis. Mike has worked hard and earned a quality win tonight. Our challenge is now to come back tomorrow with the same effort, intensity and confidence against a really tough Dartmouth squad."
 
Yale faces No. 7 Dartmouth on Saturday at 3 p.m. The Big Green fell to Columbia on Friday.
 
Cornell 4, Yale 1
 
Doubles
1. Alafia Ayeni/Vladislav Melnic (Corn.) def. Michael Sun/Cody Lin (Y) 6-4
2. Aidan Reilly/Theo Dean (Y) def. Evan Bynoe/Pietro Rimondini (Corn) 6-2
3. Nathan Mao/Adit Sinha (Corn.) def. Renaud Lefevre/Walker Oberg 6-4
 
Singles
1. Michael Sun (Y) def. Alafia Ayeni (Corn.) 6-4,3-6,6-4
2. Vladislav Melnic (Corn.) def. Theo Dean (Y) 6-4,0-6,7-5
3. Radu Papoe (Corn.) def. Cody Lin (Y) 6-3, 6-3
4. Aidan Reilly (Y) vs. Evan Bynoe (Corn.) 6-7,6-4,2-1 DNF
5. Pietro Rimondini (Corn.) def. Shervin Dehmoubed (Y) 2-6, 6-4, 6-2
6. Adit Sinha (Corn.) def. Walker Oberg (Y) 6-0, 6-1