ITHACA, N.Y. — The women's tennis team will hit the road this weekend for its final matches of the regular season, still clinging to hopes of the program's first Ivy League title. The Big Red will travel to Yale at 1 p.m. Saturday, then head to Rhode Island for a 1 p.m. Sunday showdown with Brown.
 
Cornell (13-6, 3-2 Ivy League) remains in contention after last Saturday's upset victory of Harvard (16-7, 4-1), which handed the 49th-ranked Crimson its first league loss and brought the Big Red back to within potential striking distance. Harvard and Princeton (13-7) are now tied for first, and Cornell, #44 Dartmouth (15-4, 3-2) and Penn (10-8, 3-2) are one match behind.
 
Further complicating the championship picture is the fact that four of the five contending teams all compete against each other this weekend. The Big Red is the lone exception, needing to win both of its matches to even stay in the mix. If Cornell does improve to 5-2 in league play for the first time since 1996 and just the third time in program history, it would need Harvard and/or Princeton to lose at least one match this weekend to earn a share of the Ivy League title.
 
Becoming aligned for the Ivy League's lone automatic bid to the NCAA tournament is a tougher task for the Big Red — one that is completely out of its hands. With the potential of up to four teams sharing the league title, there are several scenarios requiring tie-breaking procedures to award that auto bid. Cornell would have to win both of its matches this weekend and have one of the three out of 16 possible outcomes of the Dartmouth/Harvard vs. Princeton/Penn matches transpire: The first two are where Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton and Penn all go 1-1 on the weekend; the third is if Penn sweeps, Dartmouth beats Princeton on Saturday and Princeton beats Harvard on Sunday. Cornell is positioned on the outside of the bubble for NCAA tournament at-large bid consideration.
 
Of course, the one common thread remains Cornell needing two victories — something the Big Red has not accomplished on the road against Yale and Brown in the same season since 1996. Junior Lizzie Stewart enters the weekend on an 11-match winning streak in singles, primarily from the No. 4 position. She now leads the team in singles victories with a 15-4 record, and junior Priyanka Shah is second at 12-4. Competing most of the time at No. 3, Shah earned the clinching point Saturday against the Crimson by surviving a marathon three-set match. Cornell has been spectacular in doubles this season, with a cumulative record of 35-16. Stevens and junior Madison Stevens are 9-4, having won six straight from primarily the No. 3 spot.
 
Yale (7-14, 0-5) is still looking for its first Ivy League win of the season, though none of the matches have been runaways — the first four were final scores of 4-3, and the Bulldogs' last match was a 5-2 loss Saturday at Penn. Elizabeth Zordani is 12-8 in singles, mostly from the Nos. 4 and 5 positions. Yale has also won the doubles point in three of its five Ivy matches to date.
 
Brown (11-8, 2-3) is coming off a pair of road losses last weekend at Penn and Princeton. Dayna Lord (12-7) and Alyza Benotto (13-4) compete at the top two spots in singles. The also typically compete together at No. 1 singles, though they were split up in last Saturday's match against the Tigers. The Bears are 5-1 at home this season.