PRINCETON, N.J. -- Cornell junior Radu Papoe has been named the men's tennis Ivy League Player of the Year, the conference office announced Wednesday afternoon. With the honor, Papoe becomes the second Big Red player in program history to receive the award, joining 2000 winner Mike Halperin '01.
Playing primarily at the No. 1 position, Papoe put together a 15-3 record during the spring season, with 10 of those victories coming in straight sets. Ranked opponents were also not a challenge for Papoe, as the junior went 8-1 over the regular season. Three of those victories came over players ranked in the top 15 in Michigan State's Ozan Baris, Harvard's Cooper Williams (No. 12), and Columbia's Michael Zheng (No. 17). Papoe also has climbed the ITA rankings this season, rising from No. 33 to begin the season to No. 13 in the latest rankings. For perspective, Papoe rose as high as No. 50 in last season's singles rankings. Alongside his Player of the Year honors, Papoe earned a unanimous first team All-Ivy selection in singles for the second consecutive year. His back-to-back selections make Papoe the first Big Red player to earn at least two or more consecutive first team All-Ivy selections in singles since Alafia Ayeni '22 did in 2019 and 2022 (Ivy League did not give out All-Ivy honors in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19).
Papoe was not the only Big Red player to earn singles recognition. Classmate Adit Sinha was named second team All-Ivy in singles for the first time in his Cornell career. The North Brunswick, N.J. native put together a 10-5 overall record from the No. 2 position during the regular season and is currently No. 89 in the latest ITA rankings. Sinha has also won nine out of his last twelve singles matches that have finished, including an upset over then-No. 20 Ronald Hohmann from Michigan State to help secure the road upset and hand the Spartans its first loss at home during the spring season on March 10. That win also helped the junior burst into the ITA rankings for the first time in his career at No. 63. Overall, Sinha holds a 4-1 record over ranked opponents, with his lone loss coming in three sets to Harvard's Henry Von Der Schulenburg.
Finally, Cornell had one more representation in the All-Ivy awards for doubles, as Sinha and Nathan Mao earned second team honors for the second consecutive season. The junior duo has been a mainstay at the No. 1 position throughout the season, posting a 7-8 overall record, one win better than their 6-9 mark after joining as partners halfway through last season. Sinha and Mao have battled tough throughout the spring season, hanging tough with one of the best duo tandems in the country in Harvard's Daniel Milavsky / Cooper Williams and taking down then-No. Oscar Pinto Sansano / German Samofalov of VCU by a 6-4 margin on March 22. Additionally, senior Samuel Paquette has been named Cornell's representative for the Academic All-Ivy team. An economics major, Paquette has a cumulative 3.676 grade point average.
Papoe, Sinha, and Mao will look to lead the Big Red to the promised land when it kicks off competition in the 2024 NCAA DI Team Championships on Friday, May 3 at 3 p.m. against Arkansas in the first round of the Fort Worth Regional. Papoe will also represent Cornell at the NCAA Singles Championships set to kick off on Monday, May 20 from the Greenwood Tennis Center in Stillwater, Oklahoma
