ITHACA, N.Y. — The tandem of freshman Alafia Ayeni and sophomore Lev Kazakov knocked off the nation's 23rd-ranked doubles team, but the men's tennis suffered a 4-0 loss to Columbia on Saturday at Reis Tennis Center.
 
Cornell (10-11, 3-4 Ivy League), which entered the match ranked 45th in the nation by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, has been eliminated from contention for the NCAA tournament since its winning percentage is now below .500.
 
Ayeni and Kazakov improved to 3-4 from the No. 1 doubles position in Ivy League matches with the upset of Columbia's team of Jackie Tang and Victor Pham. The Lions, however, won the other two doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead.
 
Columbia (17-4, 6-1), which entered the weekend ranked 16th,
started off singles by winning the first set in five of the six matches. The lone exception came at No. 1, where junior David Volfson prevailed in a tiebreaker against 23rd-ranked Pham.
 
Ayeni rallied in his second set at No. 2, but the Big Red couldn't find any additional momentum. The Lions closed out three of the singles matches in straight sets to share the Ivy League title with Dartmouth.
 
#16 COLUMBIA 4, #45 CORNELL 0
At Reis Tennis Center; Ithaca, N.Y.
Singles
1. David Volfson (Cor) vs. #23 Victor Pham, DNF
2. Alafia Ayeni (Cor) vs. #53 Jackie Tang, DNF
3. Jack Lin (Clm) def. Lev Kazakov, 7-5, 6-4
4. Adam Ambrozy (Clm) def. Daniel Grunberger, 6-4, 6-3
5. Austen Huang (Clm) def. Pietro Rimondini, 6-3, 6-3
6. Jake Hansen (Cor) vs. Alex Keyser, DNF
Doubles
1. Ayeni/Kazakov (Cor) def. #29 Pham/Tang, 6-4
2. #44 Lin/William Matheson (Clm) def. McAllister/Volfson, 7-5
3. Ambrozy/Michal Rolski (Clm) def. Grunberger/Hansen, 6-4