ITHACA, N.Y. — Junior Lizzie Stewart teamed with classmate Madison Stevens to win the deciding doubles match and won in singles to give the women's tennis team a three-point lead, but nationally ranked Dartmouth ultimately rallied to win the final four singles matches in a 4-3 victory over the Big Red on Friday afternoon at Reis Tennis Center. Cornell (12-6, 2-2 Ivy League) now its proverbially back against the wall heading into a 2 p.m. Saturday match against Ivy League-leading Harvard.
 
Under bright sunshine on Reis' outdoor courts, Cornell got off to an exciting start by securing the doubles point. Dartmouth (14-4, 2-2), which is ranked 48th in the country by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, won at No. 1 after the Big Red tandem of junior Priyanka Shah and sophomore Mariko Iinuma cruised to a 6-1 win at No. 2. That left the balance of the opening point on Stevens and Stewart, who won their fifth straight match and improved to 3-0 in Ivy play.
 
Iinuma then sailed to a victory in straight sets at No. 5 singles, and Stewart won her ninth straight match at No. 4 to give Cornell a commanding 3-0 lead. Both Iinuma and Stewart are now 4-0 in Ivy League matches.
 
At that point, though the teams split the first sets of the six singles matches, the tides were starting to turn in favor of the visitors. The Big Green got on the board by rallying to win a lengthy second-set tiebreaker at No. 2, and the Big Red was suddenly behind the 8-ball. The matches at No. 1 and No. 3 ended in quick succession, and Dartmouth rode an early third-set lead to the clinching point at No. 6.

The Big Red remains in Ivy League contention, though it faces a must-win match against the Crimson on Saturday. Harvard is now 4-0 in Ivy League play with all victories coming via narrow 4-3 margins, including Friday's match at Columbia.
 
#48 DARTMOUTH 4, CORNELL 3
Singles
1. Taylor Ng (D) def. Marika Cusick, 6-4, 1-6, 6-1
2. Jacqueline Crawford (D) def. Alexandra D'Ascenzo, 6-1, 7-6(6)
3. Kristina Mathis (D) def. Priyanka Shah, 7-5, 0-6, 6-0
4. Lizzie Stewart (C) def. Julia Schroeder, 6-2, 7-5
5. Mariko Iinuma (C) def. Racquel Lyn, 6-2, 6-1
6. Allison McCann (D) def. Madison Stevens, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3
Doubles
1. Mathis/Ng (D) def. Cusick/D'Ascenzo, 6-3
2. Iinuma/Shah (C) def. Lyn/Schroeder, 6-1
3. Stevens/Stewart (C) def. Crawford/Lexxi Kiven, 7-5
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3), Singles (5,4,2,3,1,6)