ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell men's tennis team eyes its first Ivy League victories of the season when it kicks off league play at home against No. 51 Yale and Brown at Reis Tennis Center. The Big Red will face Yale on Saturday, April 5 at 1 p.m., when faces Brown on Sunday, April 6 at 1 p.m.

The Big Red enters the week ranked No. 40 nationally with a 10-6 record - all six of its losses have com to teams in the top 40 of the ITA rankings, including a competitive 4-0 loss to No. 8 Columbia its last time out. The Big Red owns six wins over top 75 squads - No. 32 Michigan State, No. 45 Penn, No. 52 Purdue, No. 54 St. John's, No. 59 Tulsa and No. 60 Old Dominion among its 10 triumphs. Big Red head coach Silviu Tanasiou has a 180-104 record in his 14 seasons on the sidelines for the Big Red. Senior All-American Radu Papoe, ranked No. 47 nationally, is 16-7 on the season to lead Cornell's singles lineup at No. 1, with Adit Sinha going 14-7 while playing in the top three spots on the ladder.

Cornell and Yale will meet for the second time this season, with the Bulldogs earning a 4-1 decision over the Big Red on March 1 in The Bronx. That day, Papoe dominated No. 75 Vignesh Gogineni, needing just 46 minutes to dispatch his opponent at the No. 1 spot by a 6-0, 6-1 score, but that proved to be the high-water mark for the Big Red. The Bulldogs claimed the doubles point with wins at No. 2 and No. 3, then answered Papoe's win to kick off singles with three consecutive victories to earn the team triumph. Gogineni enters the weekend ranked No. 84 nationally. He also teams with Edward Liao to rank No. 75 in doubles with a perfect 8-0 mark this season. Head coach Chris Drake's team is 10-6 on the year following its Ivy-opening 6-1 triumph over Brown last weekend in New Haven.

Brown enters Saturday's matchup with a top-10 Columbia team with an 18-6 record, including a spotless 16-0 mark at home for head coach Alex Kasarov. Four individual players have at least 15 victories, with James Lian going 20-7 while playing in the top four spots in the lineup. Alex Finkelstein has primarily been in the top spot, going 15-7 overall.