ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell men's tennis team will close its home non-conference slate this Sunday with a twin-bill against Quinnipiac University and Penn State University from the Reis Tennis Center. The Big Red will duke it out with the Bobcats at 10 a.m. before hosting the Nittany Lions at 3 p.m. 

LAST TIME OUT: BIG RED HANDS SPARTANS FIRST HOME LOSS OF SPRING SEASON
Cornell is looking to continue to ride the wave of a highlight win last Sunday, taking down No. 16 Michigan State, 4-3, from the MSU Indoor Tennis Center. Alongside the upset, the Big Red handed the Spartans its first home loss of the year (7-1) and extended its winning streak over the BIG 10 opponent to three consecutive matches. 

The Big Red grabbed the early momentum, taking the doubles point on a 6-4 win for Adit Sinha and Nathan Mao at the No. 1 position over Taym Alazmeh and Aristotelis Thanos, followed by another 6-4 win at No. 3 doubles from Radu Papoe and Samuel Paquette against Max Sheldon and Graydon Lair. 

Mao would get Cornell started in singles play, pushing Cornell to a 2-0 lead with his 6-3, 6-4 victory over Taym Alazmeh. The Spartans immediately countered with consecutive straight-set victories at the No. 6 and No. 3 positions to tie things at two. Despite the tie, Cornell drew first blood with Sinha knocking off his third consecutive ranked opponent with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over No. 20 Ronald Hohmann to push the team within one point of pulling the upset. And with all eyes shifting towards the lone ranked vs. ranked matchup of the day, No. 19 Radu Papoe took down No. 12 Ozan Baris (7-5, 6-1) to clinch the match for Cornell and keep his streak of wins over ranked opponents this season alive at 4-0. 

ITA RANKINGS UPDATE
With the upset of the Spartans, the Big Red saw some movement in the right direction in the latest ITA team rankings. Cornell jumped nine spots to No. 36, sitting just behind Denver University. Seven of the eight Ivy League squads are still holding strong in the rankings: Columbia (No. 7), Harvard (No. 10), Princeton (No. 26), Cornell, Penn (No. 54), Yale (No. 56), and Dartmouth (No. 70). Ohio State (16-1) still leads the way, followed by TCU (11-1), Virginia (12-4), Wake Forest (14-4), and Arizona (14-2). 

INSIDER: QUINNIPIAC
Sunday's 10 a.m. tilt will be the first-ever matchup between the Bobcats and the BigRed. Cornell has already battled a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference member in its spring opener with a 6-1 win over Niagara University in Ithaca on Jan. 27.

Quinnipiac comes into the weekend at 5-8 overall and will close out a four-match week against Holy Cross (W, 6-1), Sacred Heart (W, 4-3), and a Friday 2 p.m. match against Merrimack before making the four-hour trip to battle the Big Red on Sunday. The Bobcats are riding a three-match winning streak after its hard-fought win over the Pioneers on Wednesday. Quinnipiac took home the doubles point with the eighth victory of the season from the pairing of Daniel Velek and Shaurya Sood, 7-6(7), and a 6-4 decision for Finn Burridge and Carlos Braun Simo (6-4). Velek and Ayata Arakaki would earn straight set wins from the No. 1 and No. 2 position before Burridge finished the job from the No. 6 spot, rebounding from a 6-1 loss in the opening set to take a three-set decision over Percy Meehan (1-6, 6-0, 6-0) to clinch the win.

INSIDER: PENN STATE
The 2 p.m. first serve will kick off the 44th all-time meeting between the Nittany Lions and the Big Red. Cornell holds the overall edge with a 30-13 mark and has won four out of the last five meetings, including a 6-1 win last season in University Park. 

The Nittany Lions are looking to get the train back on the tracks, riding a seven-match losing streak and sitting at 4-10 overall. Six of those seven losses have come via a 4-0 sweep. Penn State was last in action nearly two weeks ago, falling 6-1 in Tampa against South Florida on March 6. Sophomore Stefan Simeunovic was the lone winner in the match for PSU, defeating Bruno Oliveira (6-2, 6-0) from the No. 3 position. Senior Miko Eala has been one of the top players for the Nittany Lions this spring with a 4-1 record. Eala did have his four-match winning streak snapped in a 6-2, 7-6 (10-8) loss to then No. 45 Alvin Tudorica in Tampa. Simeunovic and Eala have been Penn State's most successful doubles pair this year, going 4-5. Despite that, the duo will look for their first victory since a 6-3 win over Mount St. Mary's Filippos Zachiotis and Jarrett Karnibard on Feb. 4. 

UP NEXT
The Big Red will hit the road to close out its non-conference slate with two ranked matches against VCU (Friday, March 22 at 10 a.m.) and Indiana University (Sunday, March 24 at 3 p.m.). Live scoring for both matches will be available on StatBroadcast.