ITHACA, N.Y. — The men's tennis team will take to the road for a second straight challenging weekend, moving from the Midwest to the Central region for matches Saturday at Wichita State and Sunday at Oklahoma.
 
Cornell (12-2) slipped three spots to 21st in the Intercollegiate Tennis Assocation's national rankings on Tuesday after splitting last weekend's matches. The Big Red sailed to a 4-0 victory last Friday at Indiana before suffering a 4-3 upset loss to Memphis on Sunday. Senior Chris Vrabel was the only member of the Big Red to win both of singles matches on the weekend, and classmate Colin Sinclair used a late break to win in straight sets against the Tigers to move to 11-0 on the year in singles play. Freshman Lev Kazakov defeated nationally-ranked Antonio Cembellin in the No. 2 match against the Hoosiers.
 
This will mark the first time the Big Red has opposed either the Shockers or the Sooners. The match against Wichita State (7-5) is scheduled for noon CST Saturday at Coleman Tennis Complex in Wichita, Kan. The Shockers moved into the ITA rankings this week at 50th following a three-match sweep of UT-Arlington, Fresno State and 39th-ranked Cal Poly last weekend. Haru Inoue is ranked 71st nationally in singles, where he has a 7-3 record from the No. 1 position and has won five straight matches. Marius Frosa leads the team with an 8-4 record in singles from position 3, 4 and 5. Wichita State is just 11-18 in doubles play, though winning the doubles point with wins at the Nos. 2 and 3 spots propelled them to 4-3 victories over Fresno State and Cal Poly.
 
At noon CDT Sunday, Cornell takes on an Oklahoma (10-3) squad that slid from fourth to seventh in the national rankings this week after a 4-0 loss to top-ranked Ohio State on Sunday. The Sooners have four players ranked nationally in singles — Spencer Papa (21st), Andrew Harris (36th), Florin Bragusi (77th) and Alex Ghilea (101st). Harris has not competed in OU's last three matches, with Papa moving up to the No. 1 position. Bragusi and Ghilea have each won seven straight from positions 2, 3 and 4. Oklahoma also has four nationally-ranked doubles teams, with three including Papa and two involving Bragusi and Ghilea. The Sooners were finalists in the NCAA tournament last year.