ITHACA, N.Y. – Playing at home for the first time this season, the men's tennis team upended nationally-ranked Iowa, 5-2, before completing the Sunday sweep at Reis Tennis Center with a 6-1 victory over Colgate.
 
The day started early with a 9 a.m. start time against Iowa (8-2), which was ranked 42nd in the nation by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association coming into the weekend. Cornell (5-5) answered the bell by securing the doubles point, thanks a tiebreaker victory from the No. 2 pairing of senior Jake Hansen and junior Daniel Soyfer to clinch. The Big Red then powered through the top three singles matches in straight sets, with those victories from sophomore Alafia Ayeni (No. 1), junior Lev Kazakov (No. 2) and Soyfer (No. 3) clinching the match.
 
The teams then opted to play out the rest of the match, which led to a fifth Big Red point coming via three-set win from junior Pietro Rimondini at No. 6. Cornell has now won three of the four meetings between the programs over the last five years.
 
The Big Red then reconvened in the afternoon to take on regional foe Colgate (3-6) with a modified lineup. Freshman Konstantin Kirovski earned his first collegiate victories in both singles (No. 6) and doubles (No. 3, alongside sophomore Evan Bynoe). Sophomore Eero Vasa (No. 3) won his first singles match as a member of the Big Red, and senior Jake Hansen (No. 5) also won in singles for the first time this year. Cornell is now 57-16-3 all-time against Colgate.
 
Cornell will remain idle next weekend before resuming preparations for the Ivy League season on Friday, March 8 with matches against Clemson (5 p.m.) and Binghamton (7 p.m.).
 

CORNELL 5, #42 IOWA 2

At Reis Tennis Center; Ithaca, N.Y.
Singles
1. Alafia Ayeni (C) def. Kareem Allaf, 7-5, 6-3
2. Lev Kazakov (C) def. Jonas Larsen, 6-3, 6-1
3. Daniel Soyfer (C) def. Joe Tyler, 6-4, 6-2
4. Oliver Okonkwo (I) def. Evan Bynoe, 7-6, 7-5
5. Will Davies (I) def. Eero Vasa, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6
6. Pietro Rimondini (C) def. Piotr Smietana, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2
Doubles
1. Ayeni/Vasa (C) def. Allaf/Larsen, 6-1
2. Jake Hansen/Soyfer (C) def. Davies/Okonkwo, 7-6(2)
3. Nikita Snezhko/Tyler (I) def. Kazakov/Joseph McAllister, 6-3
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2*), Singles (2,3,1*,4,6,5)
 

CORNELL 6, COLGATE 1

At Reis Tennis Center; Ithaca, N.Y.
Singles
1. Daniel Soyfer (COR) def. Scott Bickel, 6-2, 6-0
2. Noah Rosenblat (CLG) def. Evan Bynoe, 7-6, 7-5
3. Eero Vasa (COR) def. Alec Dardis, 6-3, 6-2
4. Pietro Rimondini (COR) def. Peter Hartman, 6-1, 6-4
5. Jake Hansen (COR) def. Rohan Gupta, 6-0, 6-1
6. Konstantin Kirovski (COR) def. Kun Tan, 6-1, 6-2
Doubles
1. Hansen/Soyfer (COR) def. Gupta/Rosenblat, 6-0
2. Lev Kazakov/Joseph McAllister (COR) vs. Bickel/Dardis, DNF
3. Bynoe/Kirovski (COR) def. Nate Romig/ Tan, 6-1