ITHACA, N.Y. — The women's tennis team will emerge from its winter hiatus by opening the dual season at 9 a.m. Sunday against Army West Point at Reis Tennis Center.
 
Cornell is coming off a 2015-16 season in which it posted a 15-8 record and 4-3 mark in the Ivy League, which was good for a tie for second place. The 15 overall victories marked a Big Red single-season record under its new all-time leader in victories, Mike Stevens, who returns for his seventh season as The Carl H. Meinig '31 Head Coach of Women's Tennis.
 
The Big Red competed in five tournaments this fall, culminated by a USTA/ITA Northeast Regional effort anchored by a run to the quarterfinals by the doubles team of junior captain Priyanka Shah and sophomore Mariko Iinuma. They were recently ranked sixth in the region by the ITA.
 
Cornell returns several other key contributors from last year's run to the squad's best Ivy finish since 1996. Senior Alexandra D'Ascenzo had a team-high 17 singles victories from primarily the No. 2 position, and junior Lizzie Stewart was 15-7 from the four middle positions in the order. Junior Madison Stevens is another returning letterwinner, having posted 11 doubles wins alongside Iinuma from the No. 3 spot a season ago.
 
Senior Marika Cusick competed nearly exclusively from the top of the singles order last year. She is currently ranked 16th in the region in singles after posting a 7-5 record in fall tournament play. She won the 'A' flight of the Cornell Invitational to kick off the year with three straight victories, then she advanced as far as the semifinals in the 'A' singles bracket of the Cissie Leary Invitational at Penn. Cusick and D'Ascenzo are also the region's 10th-ranked doubles tandem.
 
Army will be a split squad this weekend, simultaneously competing in the NJIT Invite this weekend. Sophomores Genevieve McCormick and Rugile Valiunaite both saw a lot of time in the top singles positions last year. Sophomore Kirby Einck led the Black Knights with 17 overall victories in the fall.
 
Sunday's match is free to attend and open to the public.