HANOVER, N.H. – The men's tennis team will attempt to defend its ECAC Indoor Championships title against seven of the other top programs in the Northeast region this weekend at Dartmouth's Boss Tennis Center.
 
Cornell (4-2) is seeded fourth, carrying a national ranking of 62nd by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. The Big Red earned a split in a pair of matches last weekend in Evanston, Ill., first defeating Rice, 6-1, in a neutral-site match before falling to host Northwestern, 4-0, the following day. The loss ended a four-match winning streak for Cornell, which also featured triumphs over George Washington, Radford and Georgia State.
 
Newcomers Stefan Vinti and Bernardo Casares Rosa are a combined 5-0 from the top two singles positions, while junior Alex Sidney is 4-0 in dual matches from Nos. 4 and 5. The doubles team of junior Sam Fleck and freshman Chris Vrabel has moved up six spots in the ITA rankings this week to No. 34.
 
With a winter storm moving up the East Coast on Thursday, the tournament schedule has been modified. The Big Red will open play against fifth-seeded and 61st-ranked Brown at noon Saturday. If Cornell wins, it will face the winner of Saturday's match between top-seeded and 25th-ranked Harvard and Penn at 2 p.m. Sunday. The losers of the Harvard/Penn and Cornell/Brown matches will square off in the consolation semifinals at 8 a.m. Sunday.
 
The tournament will start at 8 a.m. Saturday when third-seeded and 63rd-ranked Dartmouth takes on sixth-seeded George Washington in the first of four quarterfinals. The other first-round matchup is second-seeded and 40th-ranked Columbia vs. seventh-seeded and 55th-ranked Princeton at 11 a.m. Saturday.
 
Cornell was also seeded fourth at the event last season, when it went on to win the crown for the second time in three years. The Big Red defeated the Crimson in the semifinals and Columbia in the championship match.