WICHITA, Kan. – The Wichita State men's tennis team dropped its first home match in over a year, falling 4-2 to No. 21 Cornell, Saturday afternoon at Genesis East.
 
WSU (7-6) had won 11-straight home duals, dating back to last February.
 
Cornell (13-2) is the Shockers' highest-ranked home opponent in over a decade. The Big Red's only losses this year have come to top-35 teams.
 
"Cornell is a strong team, and today was no different. They out-played us on the big points" WSU head coach, Danny Bryan said. "A big positive today was that we were able to back up our great doubles play from last weekend. We look forward to continuing that on the road next weekend."
 
Indeed, as was the case in last Sunday's neutral court victory over No. 39 Cal Poly, the Shockers enjoyed a strong start against Cornell and emerged with a tightly-contested doubles point.
 
WSU offset a loss on court No. 2 when Haru Inoue and Miroslav Herzan powered to a 6-3 win at No. 1 doubles. In the decider, Marius Frosa and Murkel Dellien erased a 3-2 deficit on court No. 3 by winning three-straight games en route to a 6-4 victory.
 
The Shockers were unable to build on that early 1-0 lead. Instead, Cornell took five of the six opening sets in singles, helped by a thrilling tiebreaker sequence on court No. 3. Down 6-3, Jocelyn Devilliers shrugged off four different set points to briefly gain the upper hand, but Cornell's Colin Sinclair eventually served his way to a 10-8 win.
 
Devilliers-Sinclair ultimately went unfinished, but three other matches ended quickly in straight-sets.
 
Inoue saw a five-match winning streak come to an end at No. 1 singles, and Eddie Stoica fell on court No. 4.
 
WSU pulled to within 3-2 on the scoreboard when Marius Froza swept Pietro Rimondini at No. 5 by a 6-3, 6-3 count. Froza (9-4) picked up his team-leading ninth dual victory .
 
Miroslav Herzan battled back to force a third set at No. 2 before running out of gas. Cornell's Lev Kazako brought the proceedings to a halt with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 win to officially clinch the dual.
 
The Shockers have dropped just three matches since January – all to nationally-ranked teams.  Winners of seven of their last 10, they hit the road for three matches in three days next weekend: Friday at UMKC (12:30 p.m.), Saturday at Nebraska (1 p.m.) and Sunday vs. Toledo (9 a.m. in Lincoln, Neb).

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#21 Cornell 4, Wichita State 2

Singles competition
1. David Volfson (CORN) def. #71 Haru Inoue (WSU) 6-2, 6-2
2. Lev Kazakov (CORN) def. Miroslav Herzan (WSU) 6-4, 3-6, 6-0
3. Jocelyn Devilliers (WSU) vs. Colin Sinclair (CORN) 6-7 (8-10), 2-5, unfinished
4. Chris Vrabel (CORN) def. Eddie Stoica (WSU) 6-1, 6-3
5. Marius Frosa (WSU) def. Pietro Rimondini (CORN) 6-3, 6-3
6. Bernardo C. Rosa (CORN) def. Murkel Dellien (WSU) 7-5, 6-3

Doubles competition
1. Haru Inoue/Miroslav Herzan (WSU) def. David Volfson/Colin Sinclair (CORN) 6-3
2. Bernardo C. Rosa/Chris Vrabel (CORN) def. Jocelyn Devilliers/Eddie Stoica (WSU) 6-4
3. Marius Frosa/Murkel Dellien (WSU) def. Al Hill/Pietro Rimondini (CORN) 6-4

Match Notes:
Cornell 13-2; National ranking #21
Wichita State 7-6
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (4,1,5,6,2)
Official: Simon Norman  T-2:04  A-74