ITHACA, N.Y. — The women's tennis team returns to Reis Tennis Center for nine of its next 10 matches, starting with a busy weekend featuring clashes with Penn State, Stony Brook and Niagara.
 
Cornell is coming off a 5-2 victory on Sunday at Connecticut, which gives the Big Red a 5-4 record despite playing seven of its first nine matches away from Ithaca. Junior captain Priyanka Shah is a team-best 6-1 from the No. 3 singles position, and she's 6-2 in No. 2 doubles with sophomore Mariko Iinuma. Junior Lizzie Stewart is 5-4 in singles and junior Madison Stevens is 5-4 in doubles, competing for the first time this season alongside sophomore Michelle Wang at the No. 3 position against the Huskies.
 
The match against the Nittany Lions is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday. Penn State is 3-6 and on a three-match losing streak, including a 4-0 loss to Marshall and a 4-2 loss against Columbia last weekend in West Virginia. The Nittany Lions won the doubles point against the Lions, and senior Devan McCluskey accounted for other point with a straight-sets victory at No. 2 singles.
 
McCluskey entered the dual match season ranked 16th in the Atlantic Region by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. Senior Katia Blik typically competes at No. 1 singles, currently holding a national ranking of 81st and a regional ranking of 15th. The Nittany Lions have won all nine all-time meetings with the Big Red, though the programs haven't crossed paths since 2002.
 
Cornell will then take on Stony Brook at 10 a.m. Sunday, with the match against Niagara following at 2 p.m. Stony Brook (2-3) dropped a 7-0 decision to Brown on Saturday after recording a 6-1 victory over Bryant the night before in a quick trip to Rhode Island. Juniors Elizabeth Tsvetkov and Yana Nikolaeva return atop the singles lineup. With the addition of sophomore Devanshi Bhimjiyani, the Seawolves' trio was a combined 29-12 in the top half of the singles order.
 
Niagara (1-7) has lost seven straight this spring after defeating Division II Daemen in the fall. The Purple Eagles most recently split singles against Binghamton on Friday, though the Bearcats prevailed on the strength of sweeping doubles to start the day.
 
The Big Red is undefeated in its all-time meetings with both Sunday opponents. Cornell is 5-0 against the Seawolves — with those victories coming in 2001, 2006, 2007, 2010 and 2016 — and 1-0 against the Purple Eagles. The Big Red swept a doubleheader against the two teams by identical scores of 7-0 on March 12, 2016.

All three of this weekend's matches are free to attend and open to the public.