ITHACA, N.Y. — The men's tennis team will look to bounce back in Ivy League play this weekend, hosting Princeton at 2 p.m. Friday at Reis Tennis Center before traveling south to take on Penn at 1 p.m. Sunday.
 
Cornell (15-3, 0-1 Ivy League) is ranked 24th this week by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association on the heels of a 4-1 loss to three-time defending Ivy League champion Columbia on Saturday in New York. Freshman Pietro Rimondini accounted for the Big Red's lone point by pushing his singles record to 10-1 after a straight-set victory at No. 5. Freshman Lev Kazakov, whose match at No. 3 was not played to completion, enters the ITA's national singles rankings this week at 108th. He has a 9-4 record from the top two positions along with sophomore David Volfson.
 
This will be the first Ivy League match of the season for Princeton (10-9), which most recently dropped three matches on a California road swing through Pepperdine, San Diego and UC Santa Barbara. The Tigers are 0-5 in road matches this season. Alexander Day is 7-11 from the top two singles positions, and Kial Kaiser is 9-5 to lead his team in singles victories in dual matches. Thomas Colautti is 8-5 and has most recently been competing at the No. 1 spot. Day teams with Luke Gamble at No. 1 doubles, where they sport a 12-6 record and are ranked 25th nationally by the ITA.
 
Princeton holds a dominating 91-10-1 record against Cornell since the squads first met in 1906, but the Big Red has won eight of the last 12 meetings — including the teams' season finale last year and a semifinal in the ECAC Indoor Championships in February. The Big Red earned a 4-1 victory in that match, rolling to straight-set victories in four singles matches after Princeton started the day by winning the doubles point.
 
Penn improved to 13-6 after a 4-3 victory over Penn State on March 26. Matt Cancilla clinched the match with a three-set victory at No. 5 singles. Kyle Mautner is 11-5 from the No. 1 position, and Josh Pompan leads the team with a 12-3 record in duals from primarily the No. 2 spot. The Quakers are a combined 23-11 from the bottom two positions in doubles, with the duo of Mautner and Matt Nardella sporting a 9-2 mark when competing at No. 2.
 
The Quakers lead the all-time series, 44-40-1, dating back to the teams' first meeting in 1906, but Cornell has won the last nine Ivy League meetings and 17 of the last 19 dating back to 1997. Last year, the Big Red earned a 4-1 victory over the Quakers on its Senior Day at Reis Tennis Center.
 
While the Big Red looks to keep pace in the Ivy League race, it is also looking to cement its current position to be in line for an NCAA tournament at-large bid should it not win the league and be awarded the automatic bid. Cornell has never earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament before.