Men's Tennis Debuts With Qualifying For Canada F7 Futures

THACA, N.Y. — The men's tennis team will start competition this weekend, when it travels across the border to Toronto to compete in qualifying for the Canada F7 Futures event at Aviva Centre. The event is part of the 2018 ITF Men's Circuit, which is a series of professional tournaments around the world. Amateurs are allowed to compete and ultimately earn points toward the ATP rankings. Also known as the Tevlin Men's $25k Futures, qualifying for the event in Toronto runs Saturday and Sunday before main-draw competition commences Monday. A specific list of competitors from Cornell who will compete this weekend will not be finalized until just before the start of qualifying — which will include 48 singles entries. Cornell is coming off a 2017-18 season in which it posted an 10-11 record with a relatively young lineup. In addition to another year of seasoning, the Big Red has since added transfers Daniel Soyfer (Wisconsin) and Eero Vasa (UCF) to enter this year with a roster bereft of freshmen. Senior David Volfson returns after winning first-team All-Ivy League honors for a second time in singles. He was 9-5 in singles play, with all but two of those appearances coming from the No. 1 position. Once again joining Volfson toward the top of the lineup will be sophomore Alafia Ayeni, who went 10-8 in singles to earn All-Ivy League second team recognition and Ivy League Rookie of the Year honors – the second for the program in the last three years. Junior Lev Kazakov has also captured a spot on the All-Ivy second team in 2017. The Big Red competed in the Tevlin Men's $25k Futures last year, as well. Daniel Grunberger'18 accrued his first career ATP Rankings points with a run into the Round of 16, and senior David Volfson also competed in the main draw for a second straight year.