At 6:30 p.m. Tuesday night, the NCAA announced the schedule for the men’s Division I tennis championship. In the first round of the tournament, the Red is set to face No. 2 seed Louisville. No. 42 Cornell will be making its first-ever appearance in the NCAA tournament. The Cardinals will be playing in the tournament for the third year in a row after ending the regular season ranked No. 24 in the nation. Cornell’s first match will take place on May 13 at the Wildcats’ Boone Varsity Tennis Center in Lexington, Ky.
But the NCAA seed is not the only news this week for the Ivy League champion Red. For the first time in program history, Cornell will collect four first-team All-Ivy honors in one season. Senior tri-captain Andy Gauthier was named to the singles team, senior Evan Bernstein won the award for doubles and senior tri-captain Jon Jaklitsch earned a spot on both single and doubles. Senior tri-captain Jeremy Feldman also won a second-team All-Ivy honor.
Gauthier and Jaklitsch became the first duo in program history to earn first-team All-Ivy selections in the same season. Gauthier is the first Cornell men’s tennis player to be named to the top team for two consecutive years since Dave Merrit accomplished the feat in 1985. Gauthier went 5-2 in the Ivy League this season, while Jaklitsch also had an impressive season, picking up his All-Ivy award with doubles partner Bernstein for going 7-0 in doubles in conference play. After picking up second-team awards the past two years, Jaklitsch made the leap to the first-team after his senior campaign.
Original Author: Dani Abada