ITHACA, N.Y. – The men's tennis team will continue its push for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament this weekend when it wraps up Ivy League play with matches at 1 p.m. Friday at Princeton and noon Sunday against Penn at Reis Tennis Center.
 
While Cornell (12-7, 2-3 Ivy) is too far back in the Ivy League standings to capture its second league crown in the last four years, it still has an opportunity to make a case for an NCAA tournament at-large bid with a strong finish. The Big Red holds the No. 52 ranking by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association for a second consecutive week after a pair of 4-3 victories last weekend at Yale and Brown. The Big Red's securing of the doubles point was the deciding factor in both matches. Junior Alex Sidney secured the winning point at No. 4 singles against the Bulldogs, sophomore Stefan Vinti wrapped up a two-win weekend from the No. 2 spot against the Bears.
 
The doubles team of juniors Jason Luu and Quoc-Daniel Nguyen is now 4-1 in Ivy League play, garnering the No. 56 ranking in the country. Junior Sam Fleck and freshman Chris Vrabel have also re-appeared in the national rankings at No. 71 following a victory at the No. 2 spot on Sunday against Brown's Lucas Da Silveira and Justin To.
 
No. 61 Princeton (12-10, 2-3) also boasts a nationally-ranked doubles team in senior Augie Bloom and sophomore Jonathan Carcione. The pairing comes into this weekend's matches ranked 40th, but Carcione is no long on the team. Junior Zack McCourt typically competes at No. 1 singles and teams with freshman Alexander Day at No. 1 doubles. Freshman Thomas Colautti is a perfect 3-0 in Ivy matches so far at No. 2 singles, and he is 3-1 in Ivy doubles matches paired with freshman Joshua Yablon either at No. 2 or No. 3.
 
The Tigers lost both of their matches last weekend, a 4-0 decision at the hands of Harvard on Saturday and a 4-3 nail-biter against Dartmouth on Sunday. Princeton holds a dominating 87-9-1 record against Cornell since the squads first met in 1906, but the Big Red has won six of the last seven meetings.
 
Penn enters this weekend at 6-12 overall and 2-3 in the Ivy League, but it will face league-leading Columbia on Friday and non-league foe Binghamton on Saturday before Sunday's match against the Big Red at Reis. The Quakers are on a three-match losing streak, including a 4-1 loss to Dartmouth last Saturday and a 4-0 setback to Harvard on Sunday. Penn dropped all 12 singles matches over the weekend, getting its sole point in doubles against the Big Green.
 
The Quakers lead the all-time series, 44-37-1, dating back to the teams' first meeting in 1906, but Cornell has won the last six Ivy League meetings and 14 of the last 16 dating back to 1997. Last year, the Big Red won, 5-2, in its season finale. After winning the doubles point, Cornell got singles victories from three returning players – Fleck (No. 2), Sidney (No. 3) and Nguyen (No. 5).