ITHACA, N.Y. – The men's tennis team kicks off the winter portion of its schedule on Sunday with a pair of matches against Buffalo and Boston College at Reis Tennis Center. The match against Buffalo is scheduled to start at 10 a.m., followed by the clash with B.C. at 3 p.m.
 
Cornell was tabbed 45th in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's first set of rankings since the preseason, sporting one of the top freshman classes in the country. Sophomore Venkat Iyer is ranked fourth in the Northeast Region and 98th nationally in singles and, paired with freshman Alex Sidney, 35th in nationally doubles. In doubles, Iyer and Sidney won the B Doubles title at Princeton's Farnsworth Invitational in September. Freshmen Quoc-Daniel Nguyen (No. 10), Sam Fleck (No. 18) and Sidney (No. 20) were also ranked in Northeast Region singles.
 
Buffalo enters the team-scoring portion of the NCAA schedule following a 12-8 mark last season, good for third place in the Mid-America Conference. The Bulls won the regular season and advanced to the championship round of the playoffs in 2010.
 
The Big Red is familiar with Buffalo from the fall season-ending Cornell Invitational in October. The Bulls' freshman Damien David and sophomore Travis Zappia won A flight and B flight singles titles over the Big Red's Jason Luu and Kyle Berman, respectively, at the event. There was no team scoring.
 
Boston College (1-0) has Akash Muppidi in the ITA's Northeast Region rankings, coming in at 14th in singles. He won his bracket at Alabama's Crimson Tide Invitational on Oct. 31. The Eagles opened the team-scoring portion of its slate with a 7-1 victory over visiting Bryant on Friday afternoon.