ITHACA, N.Y. – The Cornell men's tennis team completed play at the 2021 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Northeast Regional on Tuesday at the Hamlin Tennis Center in Philadelphia, Pa.  Playing as the No. 1-seed, senior Alafia Ayeni earned the singles championship, while the doubles pairing of junior Vladislav Melnic and Ayeni took second place.

With their performances over the past week, Ayeni and Melnic earned spots at the ITA National Fall Championships. Ayeni and Melnic are the first members of the Cornell men's tennis team to qualify for the Fall Championships since David Volfson did so in 2018. Ayeni qualified as the singles champion and the duo qualified as doubles finalists.

Advancing to ITA Fall Nationals are 24 singles players and 24 doubles teams from each of the 12 regions. At-large selections and ITA wild cards are included to make up a 32-player/team draw for singles and doubles. The ITA National Fall Championships are set to be held November 4-7 at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego, Calif. Click here to read more about the selection process for ITA Fall Nationals.

Ayeni went 6-0 in singles play at the Northeast Regional, three times dropping the first set and battling back to earn victory. Facing a gauntlet of Ivy League opponents, Ayeni dispatched Nick Lorenz (Bryant), Carlos Guerreri Alvarez (Dartmouth), David Lins (Harvard), Ronan Jachuck (Harvard), Harris Walker (Harvard) and Max Westphal (Columbia) en route to his singles championship. Down one set in the finals, Ayeni battled back over the course of a three hour match to defeat Westphal in three sets (6-7, 7-6, 6-3).

In doubles, Ayeni and Melnic won four consecutive matches before falling in the finals to Harvard's Brian Shi and Daniel Milavsky. On their road to the finals, Ayeni and Melnic defeated doubles teams from St. Francis, Fairleigh Dickinson, Columbia and Penn. Against Penn's Edoardo Grazini and Kevin Zhu, the Big Red pair came back from a set one loss to win in three (1-6, 6-2, 10-7). Ayeni and Melnic lost a heart-breaker in a lengthy finals match against Shi and Milavsky, winning the first set, but dropping close 7-6, 14-12 second and third sets.


Final Results
Singles
No. 1-seeded Alafia Ayeni (6-0)
Ayeni def. Nick Lorenz (Bryant) – 2-6, 6-3, 7-6
Ayeni def. Carlos Guerreri Alvarez (Dartmouth) – 7-6(6), 6-3
Ayeni def. David Lins (Harvard) – 5-7, 6-1, 6-0
Ayeni def. Ronan Jachuck (Harvard) – 6-4, 7-5
Ayeni def. Harris Walker (Harvard) – 7-6, 6-2
Ayeni def. Max Westphal (Columbia) – 6-7, 7-6, 6-3

Radu Papoe
Papoe def. Pablo Salar Carrera (Rider) – 6-0, 6-1
Papoe def. Theo Dean (Yale) – 6-2, 6-4
Harris Walker (Harvard) def. Papoe – 6-4, 6-4

Jack McCarthy
QD - McCarthy def. Arnav Dhingra (Yale) – 6-4, 6-3
QD – McCarthy def. Amine El Kholti (NJIT) – 6-4, 4-6, 12-10
McCarthy def. Andrew Llie (Dartmouth) – 6-4, 6-1
Harris Walker (Harvard) def. McCarthy – 6-0, 6-3

Nathan Mao
Mao def. Shervin Dehmounbed (Yale) – 6-2, 4-6, 3-3 ret.
Henry Ruger (Columbia) def. Mao – 7-5, 3-6, 7-5

Adit Sinha
Sinha def. Bill Duo (Princeton) – 6-1, 3-6, 6-4
Max Westphal (Columbia) def. Sinha – 6-3, 6-4

Vladislav Melnic
Lucca Silva (Monmouth) def. Melnic – 7-5, 5-7, 6-3

Samuel Paquette
QD – Sanil Jagtiani (Drexel) def. Paquette – 3-6, 6-4, 10-6

Doubles
Alafia Ayeni/Vladislav Melnic (4-1)
Ayeni/Melnic def. Sebastian Pinos/Andrew Teixeira (St. Francis PA) – 8-4
Ayeni/Melnic def. Teodors Pukse/Niclas Pietsch (FDU) – 8-2
Ayeni/Melnic def. Alex Kotzen/Jayden Templeman (Columbia) – 8-1
Ayeni/Melnic def. Edoardo Grazini/Kevin Zhu (Penn) – 1-6, 6-2, 10-7
Brian Shi/Daniel Milavsky (Harvard) def. Ayeni/Melnic - 4-6, 7-6, 14-12

Jack McCarthy/Nathan Mao
McCarthy/Mao def. Javier Casasolas/Shaurya Sood (Quinnipiac) – 8-7
Renaud Lefevre/Luke Neal (Yale) def. McCarthy/Mao – 8-4

Adit Sinha/Radu Papoe
Sinha/Papoe def. Matt Kleiman/Jeremy Learner (Lehigh) – 8-5
Sinha/Papoe def. Will Chen/Will Kelleher (Holy Cross) – 8-4
Brian Shi/Daniel Milavsky def. Sinha/Papoe – 8-2