ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell men's tennis team opens its spring schedule this weekend when it plays a trio of matches against Buffalo, St. John's, and Niagara. All matches are scheduled to be played at the Reis Tennis Center in Ithaca.

Cornell is coming off a 17-8 campaign last year, which marked the most wins by the program since going 22-4 in 2016-17.

Sophomore Radu Papoe made headlines this past week when he became won the Grossman Family Future at the Reis Tennis Center, defeating Darian King, 1-6, 6-4, 6-2. The victory for Papoe marked the first professional event at the Reis Tennis Center won by a Cornell player.

Fellow sophomore Jack McCarthy is the lone Big Red player ranked in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings, coming in at No. 116 in the singles rankings. McCarthy went 4-1 in both singles and doubles during the fall portion of the season.

Scouting Buffalo

Buffalo opens its season on Thursday when it travels to Youngstown, Ohio, to face Youngstown State.

The Bulls finished 5-13 last season, including a 4-6 mark in Mid-American Conference (MAC) play.

Last year, Cornell posted a 7-0 victory over Buffalo, which included straight-set victories from five of the six singles matches.

Cornell has won the last five meetings against the Bulls, with the last two being by 7-0 scores.

Scouting St. John's

St. John's is its 2023 portion of the schedule with three matches in a four-day stretch. The Red Storm will open its season on Thursday at home against Quinnipiac at the USTA National Tennis Center before heading to Syosset, N.Y., to play Long Island on Friday.

Last season, the Red Storm posted a 17-6 record and a 2-0 mark in Big East play.

Diogo Marques is currently No. 133 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings after finishing 9-2 in singles play this past fall.

Cornell posted a 7-0 victory last season on April 3 at the Reis Tennis Center. Radu Papoe dropped just one game in his straight-set victory at No. 3 singles. Vladislav Melnic (No. 2), Adit Sinha (No. 5), and Nathan Mao (No. 6) also recorded victories for the Big Red.

Scouting Niagara

Niagara is opening its spring slate with its match against Cornell on Sunday.

The Purple Eagles went 12-9 in 2022 while posting a 3-3 record in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) play.

Cornell is playing Niagara for the first time since logging a 7-0 victory on April 7, 2019.