ITHACA, N.Y. — With its season on the line, the men's tennis team will attempt to clinch a share of the Ivy League title for the second time in the last three years when it faces rival Columbia at 1 p.m. Saturday at Dick Savitt Tennis Center in New York.
Cornell (14-9, 5-1 Ivy League) has won six of its last seven matches to set itself up for the opportunity to have just one match between it and both the league crown and, potentially, a berth into the NCAA tournament. The task at hand is particularly formidable, though, as Columbia (16-3, 6-0) is ranked 16th in the nation by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association and has already clinched at least a share of its sixth consecutive Ivy League title.
If the Big Red wins, it will share the Ivy League title with at least Columbia. If, additionally, Dartmouth defeats Harvard on Saturday afternoon, then Cornell would earn the league's automatic NCAA tournament berth. But if Cornell and Harvard both win Saturday, it would then create a three-way tie atop the Ancient Eight with Cornell, Columbia and Harvard. In that scenario, the Lions would receive the league's NCAA berth, with the tie-breaker scenarios advancing all the way down to the sixth option – best ITA ranking.
Even if the three-way tie for the Ivy League title materializes and the Big Red doesn't secure the automatic berth, the weight of defeating the 16th-ranked Lions might be enough for it to jump high enough in the national rankings to earn an at-large berth. If Cornell loses Saturday, it is likely out of the NCAA picture.
Cornell is coming off a hard-fought split of 4-3 matches on the road last weekend. The Big Red came up on the short end of that score on Saturday at Harvard before rallying to win the next day at Dartmouth to keep its Ivy League hopes alive.
Sophomore
Alafia Ayeni won both of his No. 1 singles matches on the weekend, the latter coming in three sets against a nationally-ranked opponent from the Big Green to clinch the match. That victory improved Ayeni to 9-5 from the top spot in dual matches, and he's cracked the ITA's national singles rankings this week at 100th. He also teamed with junior
Lev Kazakov at No. 2 doubles, defeating opponents from Dartmouth on Sunday for their fifth consecutive victory.
Senior
David Volfson, now ranked 59th in the nation, continues to compete at No. 2 singles and teams with junior
Daniel Soyfer to form the nation's 37th-ranked doubles team. Kazakov (13-5) and Soyfer (13-8) typically comprise the middle two singles positions, tied for the team lead in victories.
Columbia has won seven straight since dropping a pair of matches on the road against top-10 teams TCU and Texas about a month ago. The Lions boast five singles and three doubles tandems in the national rankings. In singles, Victor Pham (14-3; ranked 33rd) and Jack Lin (10-6; 22nd) typically compete at the top two positions, though the Lions have been particularly strong at the bottom of the lineup. Columbia is a combined 29-2 at the Nos. 5 and 6 positions, buoyed by Austen Huang (13-1) and Timothy Wang (13-3).
Columbia has won seven straight matches against Cornell to improve to 57-40-1 all-time in the series. The Big Red's last victory against the Lions came in the finals of the ECAC Indoor Championships on Feb. 17, 2013.
