MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The 29th-ranked men's tennis has received the No. 2 seed for this weekend's 65th annual Blue-Gray National Tennis Classic. The Big Red will compete in Friday's third first-round match when it takes on William & Mary at 1:30 p.m. CDT.
 
Cornell (9-2) is coming off a narrow 4-3 loss to Memphis on Sunday, which snapped the Big Red's seven-match winning streak. It also dropped Cornell six spots in the rankings from its program-best perch at No. 23, and it also vaulted the Tigers from 69th to 37th. Sophomores Quoc-Daniel Nguyen and Jason Luu teamed up to win their No. 2 doubles match, then went on to win their respective singles matches. Both are now a team-best 8-1 in singles play this season. Junior Venkat Iyer and sophomore Alex Sidney also won the No. 1 doubles match, helping the Big Red lock up the doubles point for the eighth consecutive match.
 
William & Mary is 6-10 and on a five-match losing streak, with four of those five matches coming against ranked teams. The unranked Tribe is now 0-7 against teams ranked in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Top 75.
 
The only common opponent W&M has had with Cornell is Penn State, which it lost to on Feb. 24. Cornell defeated Penn State, 4-3, to open its dual season on Jan. 10. The Big Red is 7-8 all-time against the Tribe, but the teams haven't met since 1982.
Ben Guthrie is ranked 119th in the country by the ITA, but he has only competed in one dual match to date. Aaron Chaffee has been the primary No. 1 singles entry in his stead, though the Tribe has yet to win a match from the top spot. Ben Hoogland is 6-1 from the No. 4 position.
 
The Big Red will face either third-seeded and 34th-ranked Columbia or 47th-ranked Texas Tech on Saturday. Cornell will then play one of the four other participating teams Sunday — top-seeded and 22nd-ranked Notre Dame, fourth-seeded and 38th-ranked Nebraska, Troy or Boise State.
 
For more information on the Blue-Gray National Tennis Classic including live scores, visit the tournament website here.