PRINCETON, N.J. -- Columbia’s
Victor Pham and Cornell’s
Alafia Ayeni earned the Ivy League men’s tennis postseason awards following a vote of the League’s eight head coaches.
Dartmouth’s
Chris Drake was named the Ivy League Coach of the Year, Columbia junior
Victor Pham was selected as Player of the Year and Cornell freshman
Alafia Ayeni claimed Rookie of the Year accolades.
Pham posted a 24-8 singles mark en route to his second-straight First Team All-Ivy nod. He went 11-4 during the spring season at the No. 1 position. The Saratoga, Calif., product is the Ivy League’s top ITA-ranked singles player at No. 25. Pham also went 16-9 in doubles play this season as part of the ITA’s No. 41-ranked doubles pair with partner
Jackie Tang.
Pham is the Lions’ third Player of the Year honoree over the past five seasons—joining
Winston Lin (2014) and
Shawn Hadavi (2016)—and sixth all-time.
Ayeni compiled a 10-8 singles mark this season, with all 18 matches occurring during the spring campaign, to earn Second Team All-Ivy honors. While competing at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions for the Big Red, the San Diego, Calif., native posted a 3-3 record in League play. The freshman also went 7-12 in doubles competition, primarily at the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles slots.
Ayeni is the third Cornell freshman to earn Rookie of the Year accolades, joining
Jeremy Feldman (2008) and
David Volfson (2016).
Eighth-year head coach Drake led Dartmouth to its first Ivy League title since 1997—and third all-time (1993, 1997)—with a 6-1 League mark. The Big Green concluded regular-season dual match play with a 20-5 record and handed Columbia its first Ivy League loss at home since April 23, 2011. Dartmouth, which will return to the NCAA Tournament for the second time over the past three seasons, currently sits at No. 27 in the ITA Division I Men’s National Team Rankings.
Drake has earned 2-of-4 Ivy League Coach of the Year nods (2016, 2018) since the award began in 2015.
Dartmouth paced all Ivies with four First Team All-Ivy selections and was the lone program to produce a pair of First Team All-Ivy singles players. The Big Green were represented on the First Team by unanimous selection sophomore
Charlie Broom (singles and doubles) and sophomore
David Horneffer (singles and doubles).
Columbia produced a League-high seven All-Ivy picks, with three landing on the First Team. The Lions’ First Team All-Ivy recipients were Pham (singles), freshman
Jack Lin (doubles) and junior
William Matheson (doubles).
Harvard also claimed three First Team All-Ivy nods and six All-Ivy accolades overall. Senior
Kenny Tao (singles and doubles) and sophomore
Logan Weber (doubles) represented the Crimson on the First Team. Tao was 1-of-2 unanimous honorees for his singles play.
In total, the Ivy League’s three NCAA qualifying teams—Columbia, Dartmouth and Harvard—earned 18-of-25 All-Ivy slots, including 10-of-12 on the First Team.
Cornell junior
David Volfson and Penn junior
Kyle Mautner rounded out the First Team All-Ivy singles lineup.
Princeton’s doubles tandem of senior
Luke Gamble and freshman
Damian Rodriguez landed Second Team All-Ivy honors. Brown was also represented on the Second Team by senior
Peter Tarwid (singles).
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Victor Pham, Columbia (Jr. – Saratoga, Calif.)
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Alafia Ayeni, Cornell (Fr. – San Diego, Calif.)
COACH OF THE YEAR
Chris Drake, Dartmouth
FIRST TEAM ALL-IVY
Singles
Victor Pham, Columbia (Jr. – Saratoga, Calif.)
David Volfson, Cornell (Jr. – Thornhill, Ontario, Canada)
* Charlie Broom, Dartmouth (So. – Hertfordshire, England)
David Horneffer, Dartmouth (So. – Brookfield, Wis.)
* Kenny Tao, Harvard (Sr. – San Jose, Calif.)
Kyle Mautner, Penn (Jr. – Greenwich, Conn.)
Doubles
Jack Lin, Columbia (Fr. – Markham, Ontario, Canada)
William Matheson, Columbia (Jr. – Auckland, New Zealand)
Charlie Broom, Dartmouth (So. – Hertfordshire, England)
David Horneffer, Dartmouth (So. – Brookfield, Wis.)
Kenny Tao, Harvard (Sr. – San Jose, Calif.)
Logan Weber, Harvard (So. – Raleigh, N.C.)
SECOND TEAM ALL-IVY^
Singles
Peter Tarwid, Brown (Sr. – Lake Forest, Ill.)
Jackie Tang, Columbia (So. – Hong Kong)
Jack Lin, Columbia (Fr. – Markham, Ontario, Canada)
Alafia Ayeni, Cornell (Fr. – San Diego, Calif.)
Dan Martin, Dartmouth (Fr. – Laval, Quebec, Canada)
Andy Zhou, Harvard (Jr. – Palo Alto, Calif.)
Josh Pompan, Penn (Sr. – Salinas, Calif.)
Doubles
Adam Ambrozy, Columbia (So. – St. Petersburg, Fla.)
Michal Rolski, Columbia (Sr. – Kielczow, Poland)
Jean Thirouin, Harvard (Sr. – Houston, Texas)
Robert Wrzesinski, Harvard (Fr. – Vilnius, Lithuania)
Luke Gamble, Princeton (Sr. – Boise, Idaho)
Damian Rodriguez, Princeton (Fr. – Cobham, England)
* Unanimous Selection
^ Second Team Expanded Due To Tie In Voting