ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell men's tennis team cruised to a 4-1 win over Dartmouth to kick off the Ivy League season on Saturday afternoon at the Reis Tennis Center. The Big Red improved to 13-5 (1-0 Ivy), while the Big Green slipped to 8-8 (0-2 Ivy).

After Dartmouth picked up a win at No. 3 doubles, Cornell rallied with a pair of tiebreak victories with the 20th-ranked tandem of Alafia Ayeni and Vlad Melnic posting a 7-6(5) win at No 1 over Anders Gibbons and Dominik Pauli to clinch the point.

With the Big Red up early, Melnic at No. 2 and Nathan Mao at No. 6 made short work of their opponents, while the Big Green earned a victory at No. 4. Cornell clinched with a straight sets triumph at No. 3 by Radu Papoe, while both Alafia Ayeni (No. 1) and Adit Sinha (No. 5) up a set and leading a second when the match was secured.

The Big Red returns to action  when it meets No. 16 Harvard on Sunday, April 10 at 1 p.m., then meets Binghamton at 4:30 p.m. at Reis.

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#58 Cornell 4, Dartmouth 1
Doubles 
1. #20 Alafia Ayeni/Vlad Melnic (Cornell) def. Anders Gibbons/Dominik Pauli (Dartmouth), 7-6(5)
2. Nathan Mao/Adit Sinha (Cornell) def. Pierce Widdecombe/Alex Knox-Jones (Dartmouth), 7-6(3)
3. Andy Ilie/Logan Chang (Dartmouth) def. Radu Papoe/Muhammad Dossani (Cornell), 6-3
Order of finish: 3,2,1

Singles
1. #54 Alafia Ayeni (Cornell) vs. Anders Gibbons (Dartmouth), 7-6(5), 2-1, DNF
2. Vlad Melnic (Cornell) def. Carlos Guerrero Alvarez (Dartmouth), 6-2, 6-0
3. Radu Papoe (Cornell) def. Dominik Pauli (Dartmouth), 6-1, 6-4
4. Alex Knox-Jones (Dartmouth) def. Evan Bynoe (Cornell), 6-4, 6-0
5. Adit Sinha (Cornell) vs. Andy Ilie (Dartmouth), 6-1, 4-3, DNF
6. Nathan Mao (Cornell) def. Pierce Widdecombe (Dartmouth), 6-2, 6-3
Order of finish: 2,4,6,3