ITHACA, N.Y. — The men's tennis team will make its long-awaited Ivy League debut this weekend, visiting Princeton at 2 p.m. Friday before returning home to host Penn at 1 p.m. Sunday at Reis Tennis Center. The Big Red is one of the three defending Ivy League champions, having won a share of the 2017 crown – the second in program history.
 
Cornell (7-7) enters the league slate ranked 47th in the country by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, having fallen six spots after last Saturday's 4-2 loss at home against 16th-ranked Oklahoma. Junior David Volfson won his sixth consecutive singles match to reach completion, improving to 7-3. Freshman Alafia Ayeni joins Volfson in the top two positions in the order, boasting a 7-5 record, and sophomore Lev Kazakov is 7-4 from the No. 3 spot. They all trail just senior Daniel Grunberger and his 9-5 mark for the team lead in singles victories.
 
Princeton (15-8, 0-1 Ivy) will be returning home after five straight matches on the road, concluding with a 6-1 loss to Penn last Saturday in the teams' Ivy League opener. Payton Holden accounted for the Tigers' lone point with a win at No. 6 singles, plus he also won his No. 2 doubles match teamed with Ryan Seggerman. Davey Roberts is 12-3 from primarily the lower half of the singles lineup, tied for the team lead in singles victories with Luke Gamble and his 12-8 mark from around the middle of the order. The top doubles team of Gamble and Damian Rodriguez is ranked 90th nationally. The Tigers are a perfect 7-0 at home so far this year.
 
Princeton holds a dominating 92-11-1 record against Cornell since the squads first met in 1906, but the Big Red has won nine of the last 14 meetings. The teams have already met once this year, with the Tigers holding on for a neck-and-neck 4-3 victory in the third-place match of the ECAC Indoor Championships on Feb. 18. Cornell won both of last year's matches, including a 4-1 decision in Ivy League play thanks to three-set victories from the top three singles positions.
 
Penn (12-9, 1-0) enters Friday's clash against Columbia on a five-match winning streak and nine victories in its last 11. Kyle Mautner is 12-5 to lead the team in singles victories while competing exclusively at the No. 1 position. Dmitry Shatalin is 11-4 from mostly No. 3, and Noah Makarome is 11-6 entered at No. 5 or No. 6 most of the time. Mautner has recently been moved to a doubles team with Gabriel Rapoport, and they are 3-0 from the No. 1 spot. The Quakers are 19-25 overall in doubles.
 
Penn leads the all-time series, 45-41-1, dating back to the teams' first meeting in 1906, but Cornell has won the last 10 Ivy League meetings and 19 of the last 21 dating back to 1997. The teams have already seen each other once this season, with the Big Red notching a 4-1 victory in the quarterfinals of the ECAC Indoor Championships on Feb. 16. Kazakov won in both singles and doubles for the Big Red.

Friday's match at Princeton will be broadcast on The Ivy League Network. Sunday's match at Reis Tennis Center is free to attend and open to the public with free pizza for the first 100 fans.