ITHACA, N.Y. -- For the third consecutive season, the Cornell men's tennis team has earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships. For the third straight year, the Big Red will look for a first round upset when it faces No. 28 Michigan on Saturday, May 3 at 10 a.m. CT at the University of Texas' Tennis Center.

The Big Red enters the tournament ranked No. 37 nationally with a 15-7  record - all seven of its losses have com to teams in the top 40 of the ITA rankings. Cornell finished 5-2 in Ivy League competition, good for a second-place tie behind unbeaten Columbia. The Big Red owns 10 wins over top 75 squads - No. 28 Michigan State, No. 30 Princeton, No. 47 Penn (2x), No. 52 Purdue, No. 57 Tulsa, No. 58 Yale, No. 59 Old Dominion, No. 62 St. John's and No. 73 Dartmouth, among its 15 triumphs. Big Red head coach Silviu Tanasiou has a 185-105 record in his 14 seasons on the sidelines for the Big Red. 

Senior All-American and unanimous first-team All-Ivy selection Radu Papoe, ranked No. 54 nationally, is 20-8 on the season to lead Cornell's singles lineup at No. 1. Classmate Adit Sinha, ranked No. 109 in the latest ITA poll, was 18-8 while playing in the top three spots on the ladder and earned second-team all-league accolades. All three of Cornell's doubles teams earned All-Ivy honors, with NCAA qualifier Eric Verdes and Rushil Khosla gaining a second-team nod after posting a 16-9 record.

Cornell is 69-29 over the past four seasons and earned first round NCAA wins in both 2023 (4-3 over #23 Auburn at Duke) and 2024 (4-0 over #28 Arkansas at TCU), making the Big Red one of 23 teams with wins in each of the past two seasons.

One of those other 22 teams - Saturday's opponent, Michigan. The Wolverines are 15-12 on the season and 8-5 in Big Ten action. Under the direction of second-year head coach Sean Maymi, the Wolverines are led by top singles players Gavin Young (No. 51), Will Cooksey (No. 60) and Benjamin Kittay (No. 73), all ranked in the top 75 nationally. Young and Kittay team up as the No. 24 ranked doubles squad in the country and the top unit in the Big Ten.

The winner of the first round contest will face No. 3 Texas or Montana, who will square off in the second match of Saturday. The second round contest will occur on Sunday, May 4 at 1 p.m. CT.