PRINCETON, N.J. -- Postseason honors were handed out for Ivy League men's tennis following an exciting 2015-16 regular season that saw Columbia work its way through the conference slate unscathed for the third year in a row.
The Lions were led junior Shawn Hadavi, who was the head coaches' unananimous choice for Ivy League Player of the Year and first-team All-Ivy in singles, as well as second-team All-Ivy in doubles. Cornell freshman David Volfson was named Ivy League Rookie of the Year, unanimous first-team All-Ivy in singles and first-team All-Ivy in doubles, while Dartmouth head coach Chris Drake was earned his first Ivy League Coach of the Year honor.
Hadavi (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.) came on strong this year after being a reserve a season ago. He went 15-5 this spring, moving all the way up to No. 54 in the singles rankings at one point, after defeating No. 8 Arthur Rinderknech of Texas A&M and No. 22 Wayne Montgomery of Georgia at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) National Team Indoor Championship. The junior topped two other ranked opponents in the spring en route to a 6-1 record in Ivy League play. He split time in doubles with brothers Richard Pham and Victor Pham between the No. 1 and No. 2 pairs for a 12-8 mark this spring.
Hadavi is the fifth Lion to be named Player of the Year, joining Phil Williamson (1986-87), Salil Seshardi (1997-98), Oscar Chow (2002-03) and Winston Lin (2013-14).
Volfson was very impressive in his debut season at Cornell, playing at the No. 1 singles spot the entire spring season. He closed the regular season with four-straight wins to cap off an 11-6 record in dual matches and a 4-1 mark in League play. He teamed with junior Colin Sinclair, who was also named first-team All-Ivy in doubles, for a 13-6 spring record that highlighted by wins in five of their last six matches at the No. 1 spot.
Volfson is the second Big Red player to be voted Rookie of the Year, joining Jeremy Feldman (2007-08), since the award began with the 1987-88 season.
Drake is in his sixth season at the helm of the Dartmouth program and has compiled an overall record of 32-18 and a 25-17 in Ivy League play throughout his time in Hanover, after going 18-8 overall and 6-1 in Ivy play this season. The Big Green finished second in the conference behind Columbia. This is the highest the team has finished under Drake, after tying for second with Harvard last season. Drake was last year's ITA Northeast Regional Coach of the Year.
Joining Hadavi and Volfson as the only other unanimous pick on the first team was Dartmouth senior Dovydas Sakinis (Siauliai, Lithuania). Sakinis, the 2014-15 Player of the Year, earned his third-straight unanimous selection in singles. He played at the No. 1 position for every match this spring and ended the regular season with a 12-10 record. He was nationally ranked for the entirety of the two-month season, sitting as high as No. 18 in January. He ended the regular season on a five-match winning streak.
Harvard senior Nicholas Hu received first-team recognition in both singles and doubles, the first All-Ivy honors of his career. Hu sat at the No. 1 spot in singles for the entire year, collecting an 11-16 overall record, including seven wins in dual match play. It doubles, he went 15-15 overall, including 4-3 in conference play.
Brown sophomore Peter Tarwid (Lake Forest, Ill.) and Penn freshman Kyle Mautner (Greenwich, Conn.) rounded out the first-team honorees in singles, while Columbia senior Mike Vermeer (Steinsel, Luxembourg) and the Dartmouth duo of senior Brendan Tannenbaum (Indianapolis) and junior George Wall (Hope Island, Queensland, Australia) joined Volfson, Sinclair and Hu on the first team in doubles.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
*Shawn Hadavi, Columbia (Jr. - Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.)
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
David Volfson, Cornell (Fr. - Thornhill, Ontario, Canada)
COACH OF THE YEAR
Chris Drake, Dartmouth
FIRST TEAM ALL-IVY
Singles
Peter Tarwid, Brown (So. - Lake Forest, Ill.)
*Shawn Hadavi, Columbia (Jr. - Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.)
*David Volfson, Cornell (Fr. - Thornhill, Ontario, Canada)
*Dovydas Sakinis, Dartmouth (Sr. - Siauliai, Lithuania)
Nicholas Hu, Harvard (Sr. - Palo Alto, Calif.)
Kyle Mautner, Penn (Fr. - Greenwich, Conn.)
Doubles
Mike Vermeer, Columbia (Sr. - Steinsel, Luxembourg)
Colin Sinclair, Cornell (Jr. - Brisbane, Australia)
David Volfson, Cornell (Fr. - Thornhill, Ontario, Canada)
Brendan Tannenbaum, Dartmouth (Sr. - Indianapolis)
George Wall, Dartmouth (Jr. - Hope Island, Queensland, Australia)
Nicholas Hu, Harvard (Sr. - Palo Alto, Calif.)
SECOND TEAM ALL-IVY
Singles
Victor Pham, Columbia (Fr. - Saratoga, Calif.)
Eric Rubin, Columbia (Sr. - Long Beach, N.Y.)
Mike Vermeer, Columbia (Sr. - Steinsel, Luxembourg)
Colin Sinclair, Cornell (Jr. - Brisbane, Queensland, Australia)
Thomas Colautti, Princeton (Jr. - London)
Diego Vives, Princeton (So. - Santiago, Chile)
Doubles
Shawn Hadavi, Columbia (Jr. - Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.)
Michal Rolski, Columbia (So. - Kielczow, Poland)
Max Schmidt, Dartmouth (Jr. - Morris Plains, N.J.)
Brian Yeung, Harvard (Jr. - Hong Kong)
Alexander Day, Princeton (Jr. - Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
Luke Gamble, Princeton (So. - Boise, Idaho)
*Unanimous Selection