Box Score MOUNT VERNON – Cornell celebrated the long-awaited return of live athletics competition Monday with a 7-2 men's tennis victory over Dubuque on the Rams' newly-surfaced home courts.
The event was the first of any kind for a Cornell sports team since March 13, when COVID-19 shut down the remainder of spring competitions and delayed the start of this fall tennis season.
Senior standout No. 1 player Shoma Kishimoto (SR/Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.) picked up where he left off – raising his career wins total to 136 – and guided the young Rams to a comfortable win. Kishimoto surrendered just one game in his singles triumph and posted an 8-0 shutout at No. 1 doubles with freshman Alexander Hadler-Strumlauf (FR/La Jolla, Calif.).
The Rams had three first-year players earn singles wins with No. 2 Federico Polidori (FR/Miami Beach, Fla.) (6-2, 6-2), No. 3 Hadler-Strumlauf (6-0, 6-1) and No. 4 Chris Penas-Hull (FR/Lincoln, Neb.) (6-0, 6-1). Sophomore Bryce Fincher (SO/Lafayette, Colo.) won 6-1, 6-4 at the No. 6 position.
Polidori and Penas-Hull blanked their No. 2 doubles opponent, 8-0.
Dubuque (0-1) took matches at No. 5 singles (6-3, 6-0) and No. 3 doubles (8-5).
Coming up – The Rams are back in action Thursday with a 4 p.m. meet against Simpson in Indianola.
