PRINCETON, N.J. -- Men's tennis took its turn in the spotlight of the spring postseason awards season for the Ivy League with its top honors and All-Ivy teams unveiled following the end of the 2014-15 regular season.
Dartmouth swept the top individual honors as junior Dovydas Sakinis was named Player of the Year and first-team All-Ivy in singles and doubles and his Big Green teammate Ciro Riccardi was chosen Rookie of the Year, while Columbia head coach Bid Goswami was bestowed with the inaugural Coach of the Year award in a vote by the League's head coaches.
Sakinis (Siauliai, Lithuania) is just the third Dartmouth player to win the League's Player of the Year honor in men's tennis, joining Matt Semler (1991-92) and Dan Coakley (1993-94). He is off to a impressive start in his first two years in Hanover, earning his second-straight, first team nod in singles, this year as a unanimous pick, to go along with his first-team spot in doubles.
Sakinis put up another impressive spring, playing at the No. 1 spot in both singles and doubles, with a 17-6 singles record and a 12-6 doubles record. In League matches, he was almost flawless in singles with a 6-1 mark and added a 3-3 ledger in doubles.
Riccardi (Los Angeles) made it back-to-back Rookie of the Year awards for the Big Green as Sakinis took home the honor a year ago. This twosome are the only Dartmouth players to be named Ivy League Rookie of the Year since the award began with the 1987-88 season.
Riccardi was at the heart of the Big Green lineup for most of the season and pulled off four of his 10 spring singles victories against Ivy foes at No. 3. He totaled 16 singles wins and seven doubles wins in his first season at Dartmouth.
In his 33rd season, Goswami has guided Columbia back to the NCAA Men's Championships for the second-straight year and the 10th time in program history. This year, his Lions sat among the top teams in the nation in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Rankings for most of the year. Columbia grabbed the League title outright title for the second time in as many years and the 12th time in program history after another perfect 7-0 mark in League play. The Lions have won 18-straight conference matches dating back to April 3, 2013.
In interesting irony, the five players joining Sakinis on the All-Ivy first team this year we all on the first-team selections last year as well.
Columbia senior Winston Lin (Williamsville, N.Y.) closed his time in Morningside Heights with the rarest of feats -- being named unanimous first-team All-Ivy for all four years. The 2011-12 Rookie of the Year and 2013-14 Player of the Year went 12-6 in singles this spring, including a 5-2 record in conference matches, at the top of the Lions' ladder. He also helped Columbia to its highest national ranking of No. 11 after winning ITA Kick-Off Weekend to start the dual season.
Fellow Lions Ashok Narayana (Houston) and Max Schnur (Richmond, Va.) accomplished the four-peat as well, being selected to the All-Ivy first team in doubles for all four of their seasons.
Columbia junior Dragos Ignat (Bacau, Romania) and Harvard senior Denis Nguyen (Anaheim, Calif.) earned first-team honors in singles for a third-consecutive season. Princeton senior Zack McCourt (Sunrise, Fla.) and Yale sophomore Tyler Lu (Irvine, Calif.) grabbed spots on the first team for a second-straight year.
Yale's freshman duo of Fedor Andrienko (Moscow) and Stefan Doehler (Tustin, Calif.) rounded out the first team in doubles, giving the Bulldogs first-team selections in doubles for the first time since Daniel Hoffman and Marc Powers in 2011-12.
The foursome of Sakinis, Ignat, Nguyen and Narayana garnered this year's distinction of receiving All-Ivy honors in both singles and doubles across the first and second teams.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Dovydas Sakinis, Dartmouth (Jr. - Siauliai, Lithuania)
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Ciro Riccardi, Dartmouth (Fr. - Los Angeles)
COACH OF THE YEAR
Bid Goswami, Columbia
FIRST TEAM ALL-IVY
Singles
Dragos Ignat, Columbia (Jr. - Bacau, Romania)
*Winston Lin, Columbia (Sr. - Williamsville, N.Y.)
*Dovydas Sakinis, Dartmouth (Jr. - Siauliai, Lithuania)
*Denis Nguyen, Harvard (Sr. - Anaheim, Calif.)
*Zack McCourt, Princeton (Sr. - Sunrise, Fla.)
Tyler Lu, Yale (So. - Irvine, Calif.)
Doubles
Ashok Narayana, Columbia (Sr. - Houston)
Max Schnur, Columbia (Sr. - Richmond, Va.)
Dovydas Sakinis, Dartmouth (Jr. - Siauliai, Lithuania)
Denis Nguyen, Harvard (Sr. - Anaheim, Calif.)
Fedor Andrienko, Yale (Fr. - Moscow)
Stefan Doehler, Yale (Fr. - Tustin, Calif.)
SECOND TEAM ALL-IVY
Singles
Justin To, Brown (Sr. - Hong Kong)
Ashok Narayana, Columbia (Sr. - Houston)
Mike Vermeer, Columbia (Jr. - Steinsel, Luxembourg)
Samuel Fleck, Cornell (Sr. - Cambridge, England)
Chris Kipouras, Dartmouth (Sr. - San Ramon, Calif.)
Thomas Colautti, Princeton (So. - London)
Doubles
Dragos Ignat, Columbia (Sr. - Bacau, Romania)
Mike Vermeer, Columbia (Jr. - Steinsel, Luxembourg)
Bernardo Casares Rosa, Cornell (So. - Quito, Ecuador)
Chris Vrabel, Cornell (So. - Centerville, Va.)
Chris Kipouras, Dartmouth (Sr. - San Ramon, Calif.)
Brian Yeung, Harvard (So. - Hong Kong)
*Unanimous Selection