The men's tennis team returns to action this weekend after nearly three months off, traveling to Penn State on Sunday for its first dual match of the season. The match, which is 38th between the regional rivals, is set to begin at noon.
 
Cornell is ranked 69th in the country by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, which released its first rankings of the season on Jan. 3. Sophomore Sam Fleck, an All-Ivy League Second Team selection during his debut campaign, posted a 6-4 mark in fall singles matches and holds down the ITA's No. 15 ranking in the Northeast Region.
 
Fleck also teams with classmate Quoc-Daniel Nguyen to form the fourth-ranked doubles team in the region after a spectacular 10-1 fall season, which included a 10-match winning streak, top flight titles at the Columbia Classic and Cornell Fall Invitational, and a run into the semifinals of the USTA/ITA Northeast Regional.
 
Freshman Dragos Dima posted a 5-3 record during the fall, garnering the No. 16 spot in the Northeast Region. Spencer Clark posted the team's best record in the fall, going 11-4 with a 10-match winning streak that included titles in the C Bracket of the Columbia Classic and the White Bracket of the Cornell Fall Invitational.
 
Penn State will open its dual season on Saturday against visiting North Carolina State before taking on the Big Red. The Nittany Lions posted an 11-14 record last season, but were just 1-11 in the Big Ten Conference and 1-12 against teams in the national rankings.
 
Senior Bryan Welnetz is ranked 19th in the Atlantic Region by the ITA after going 7-5 in singles matches during the fall. Sophomore Tomas Hanzlik posted a 4-4 mark at the No. 1 spot last season. Junior Russell Bader was part of a doubles team that went 14-1 in dual matches, having advanced to the NCAA Championships in doubles with the since-graduated Jason Lee.
 
There was just one fall meeting between the Big Red and Nittany Lions, with Brett Cromwell securing a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Penn State's Ramy Labna in the first round of the Pagoda Bracket at the Princeton/Farnsworth Invitational on Sept. 14.
 
Penn State holds an 25-12 lead in the all-time series, including a split of two fall matches. The Nittany Lions defeated the Big Red, 5-2, in the teams' last meeting on March 17, 2012. The Big Red's last victory in the series came on Feb. 7, 2004.