The men's tennis team faces a big test this weekend when it travels to Virginia for a pair of matches against 28th-ranked Virginia Commonwealth and Old Dominion. The Big Red starts out at 11 a.m. Saturday against the Rams before heading for the Tidewater area for an 11 a.m. Sunday matchup against the Monarchs.
 
Cornell (7-4) has re-entered the Intercollegiate Tennis Association national rankings this week following a 5-2 victory over now-No. 44 Nebraska on Saturday at Reis Tennis Center. The Big Red started the weekend with a 4-3 victory over Middle Tennessee State. Junior Alex Sidney is a perfect 5-0 from the bottom half of the singles lineup, and newcomers are Stefan Vinti and Bernardo Casares Rosa are a combined 11-2 from the top half.
 
VCU (11-7) is coming off a pair of losses to 10^th-ranked Duke and 21^st-ranked Wake Forest, but it also has a victory over Mississippi State under its belt when the Bulldogs were ranked 11^th in the country. Alexis Heugas is ranked 59^th in the country in singles, while Michael Voscek is ranked 121^st.
 
Old Dominion (8-4) starts the weekend with a Saturday morning match against Bucknell. Prior to that match, the Monarchs dropped a 6-1 decision last Sunday at Yale. The only other match ODU has played against an Ivy League team was Feb. 1, which ended up a 5-2 loss at Princeton. Carlos Lopez Villa is ranked 56^th in the country for singles.
 
The Big Red is visiting the two Virginia-based schools for the second time in the last three years. In March 2012, Cornell dropped a 4-3 nail-biter against Old Dominion before suffering a 4-1 loss to VCU. The Big Red is 5-4 all-time against the Monarchs and 1-4 against the Rams.