The men’s tennis team returns home to the courts of Reis Tennis Center today, taking on upstate rival Binghamton at 5 p.m.
The Red is coming off a successful 2-1 road trip down south in which Cornell downed then No. 66 Old Dominion, 4-0, last Friday, before losing 6-1 to then No. 33 Virginia Commonwealth. The Red finished up the weekend by skunking Georgetown 7-0.
The Bearcats make the trip sporting a 1-2 record for the spring season.
Binghamton opened the season with a 7-0 loss to Columbia, taking only three sets from the Lions. Binghamton followed its loss by defeating Concordia in its next outing 4-3. Most recently the Bearcats lost, 5-2, to Army.
“They’ve got a very solid team. They’re not super-strong at the top, but I feel like they’re very solid all the way down,” said Cornell head coach Barry Schoonmaker. “I think it’s foolish to overlook anyone, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say we were favored over them. We’ve still got to play. They’re going to have nothing to lose … and we’re going to have to be ready.”
Binghamton returns seven letter winners from last year’s squad, including five singles players.
The two teams last met almost a year ago, with Cornell defeating the Bearcats, 6-1.
The Red’s only loss came at No. 3 singles, where Binghamton’s Alex Dobrin defeated junior Ray Wu, 6-4, 6-3.
“[Dobrin’s] given our guys trouble in the past,” Schoonmaker said. “[But] I feel we’ll be ready to take him out.”
With the depth of this year’s squad, Schoonmaker will use today’s matches as opportunity to try out players after different spots in the lineup.
“I’m going to be moving guys around the whole [season], because our top-3 are all pretty even and we’ve got so much depth down low,” Schoonmaker said. “I’m going to try and get guys in at many different times.”
While Schoonmaker may tinker with the singles lineup, he feels confident with his current doubles lineup.
“I really feel good about our doubles,” Schoonmaker said. “It’s important to win that doubles point, against an underdog team.”