ITHACA, N.Y. — The 47th-ranked men's tennis team will kick off a busy stretch of three matches in four days when it hosts North Florida at 4 p.m. Thursday at Reis Tennis Center. The Big Red then travels to New York for neutral-site matches against Michigan on Saturday and Iowa on Sunday in the Ivy-Big Ten Challenge.
 
Cornell (1-0) kicked off its dual season last Friday with a 4-3 win over visiting Buffalo. Colin Sinclair, Stefan Vinti and Karim Arem each won singles and doubles matches, with Arem's win in three sets at No. 6 singles clinching the match for the Big Red.
 
North Florida is 1-3 with all four of their matches to date against teams ranked in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's top 75. The victory came against 75th-ranked UNC Wilmington last Friday morning, followed by a 4-2 loss to No. 63 Alabama that evening. The Ospreys, who moved into the rankings this week at No. 71, have the fourth-ranked doubles team in the nation in Jack Findel-Hawkins and Yannick Zuern. Cornell has played North Florida just once before, with the Big Red suffering a 4-3 loss on March, 18, 1995 in Jacksonville, Fla. Thursday's match is free and open to the public.
 
Michigan lost its dual opener last Sunday at 55th-ranked Kentucky, 4-3, though the Wolverines will travel to Princeton on Friday before facing the Big Red. Michigan was 7-17 last season. Cornell is 3-4-2 in an all-time series with the Wolverines which started in 1908 — just the third spring season in Big Red program history. This will be the first meeting since a 6-1 Michigan win on Feb. 20, 2005 in Ann Arbor.
 
Iowa is ranked 64th, having opened its season Jan. 18 with a 7-0 sweep of Utah State. The Hawkeyes were 14-11 last season, including a 4-2 loss to Cornell on Jan. 30 at Reis Tennis Center. That win improved the Big Red's all-time record to 2-1 against Iowa, with the other victory coming in 1987.