NEW YORK — Winners in four of its last five matches, the men's tennis team's will start its Ivy League season at 1 p.m. Saturday with a visit to Columbia.
 
Cornell (7-8) enters league play on the heels of victories over in-state rivals Binghamton (7-0 on March 13) and St. John's (4-2 on March 18). Contributions have been evenly distributed throughout the lineup, with four players tied with seven singles victories and the team sporting a 19-15 record in doubles. Freshman Karlo Lozic has won four consecutive No. 6 singles matches, and senior Stefan Vinti is 4-1 so far in singles this month. Freshman David Volfson continues to anchor the top of the lineup, where he's appeared in the national rankings earlier this year. The No. 1 doubles team of juniors Bernardo Casares Rosa and Chris Vrabel — All-Ivy League second team selections a year ago — has won its last six completed matches. The Big Red is ranked 55th in the country by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association
 
Saturday's match will serve as a litmus test for the Big Red, with Columbia (10-5) coming into the match on an 18-match Ivy League win streak and consecutive appearances in the Round of 16 at the NCAA tournament. Currently ranked 29th in the country, the Lions are coming off a four-match spring trip in which it defeated UT-Arlington and SMU, coupled with losses to Top-25 squads Michigan and TCU. Junior Shawn Hadavi has ascended to the No. 1 singles position, where he's ranked 64th with a 9-4 record in dual matches. He also pairs with freshman Victor Pham to form the nation's 15th-ranked doubles team, and another tandem of senior Mike Vermeer and sophomore Michal Rolski is tabbed 28th by the ITA. Vermeer is a career 11-0 in Ivy matches.
 
Columbia leads the all-time series against the Big Red, 54-40-1, though Cornell has won four of the last eight meetings. The Big Red's last victory over Columbia was the biggest moment of the 2012-13 season, when it blew by the Lions by a 4-0 score in the ECAC Indoor Championships finals.