ITHACA, N.Y. — The men's tennis team puts its 5-0 record on the line at 11 a.m. Saturday, when it hosts St. John's at Reis Tennis Center. Cornell enters the weekend receiving votes in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Top 25 poll.
 
The Big Red is rolling through the early stages and off to its best start since 2004, most recently recording a 4-1 victory Sunday at Penn State. Senior Chris Vrabel teamed with classmate Bernardo Casares Rosa to win in No. 1 doubles, where they're 4-0 this season. Vrabel then clinched the match in three sets at No. 2 singles. Casares Rosa (No. 6) and fellow senior Colin Sinclair (No. 3) are both 4-0 in singles play.
 
St. John's is 4-3 this season after winning three home matches last weekend against Quinnipiac, Connecticut and Binghamton. The Red Storm opened the dual season with four matches in a span of four days in Florida, defeating Stetson before suffering 4-0 losses to Florida Atlantic, Miami and North Florida. St. John's is coming off a season in which it posted a 21-6 record and won its third consecutive Big East championship. Senior Roberto Livi led the squad with 17 singles victories, and he was given a preseason singles ranking of 14th in the Northeast Region by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
 
The Big Red is 16-1 all-time against St. John's, having defeated the Red Storm twice last year. The first meeting came in the first round of the ECAC Indoor Championships, with the Big Red emerging with a 4-1 victory. Cornell then recorded a 4-2 win a little more than a month later in Queens in its final Ivy League tune-up. The Big Red went undefeated in all of the doubles matches, and sophomore David Volfson and Sinclair both won their No. 1 and No. 2 singles matches, respectively, in straight sets.
 
Saturday's match is free to attend and open to the public.