PROVIDENCE, R.I. — For the first time in program history, the women's tennis team can call itself an Ivy League champion.
 
Juniors Priyanka Shah and Lizzie Stewart won their respective singles and doubles matches, then senior Marika Cusick earned the clinch with a straight-set victory at No. 1 singles in the Big Red's 4-1 victory over Brown on Sunday at Pizzitola Center.
 
At that point, Cornell (15-8, 5-2) knew it had tied a program record for victories in a single season and posted its best league record since 1996 under Mike Stevens, the sixth-year Carl H. Meinig '31 Head Coach of Women's Tennis and winningest coach in program history. But not until about an hour and a half later did the Big Red learn it earned the program's first-ever Ivy League title.
 
A match between Penn and Harvard went down to the wire in Philadelphia, and when the Quakers' Sarah Dreyfuss finished off a win at No. 4 singles to send her team to a 4-3 victory,  it pulled the 49th-ranked Crimson into a three-way tie for the crown with Cornell and 44th-ranked Dartmouth.
 
The Ivy League is granted one automatic bid into the NCAA tournament for a champion, so a complicated tiebreaking procedure has been enacted to award that bid to Dartmouth. That means the Big Red's season is likely over, as it will likely not be ranked high enough by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association to garner an at-large bid.
 
Brown started Sunday's match with the first doubles victory, but the Big Red bounced right back to win the next two and take a 1-0 lead. Stewart and junior Madison Stevens clinched the point with a 6-4 victory at No. 3.
 
The Bears got their lone point at No. 2 singles before Cornell pulled away. Shah, the team's captain, gave the Big Red a 2-1 lead by winning in straight sets at No. 3. Stewart then won at No. 4 in a second-set tiebreaker, ending her season on an incredible 13-match winning streak and a perfect 7-0 in Ivy League play. That set the stage for Cusick's clinch.
 
Sophomore Mariko Iinuma finished her season 6-0 in Ivy League singles matches, though her match Sunday was not completed with the day's victor already decided.
 
CORNELL 4, BROWN 1
Singles
1. Marika Cusick (C) def. Alyza Benotto, 7-6(5), 6-1
2. Dayna Lord (B) def. Alexandra D'Ascenzo, 6-3, 6-2
3. Priyanka Shah (C) def. Maddie Stearns, 6-3, 6-4
4. Lizzie Stewart (C) def. Devon Jack, 6-2, 7-6(3)
5. Mariko Iinuma (C) vs. Katie Ta, DNF
6. Madison Stevens (C) vs. Taylor Cosme, DNF
Doubles
1. Benotto/Lord (B) def. Cusick/D'Ascenzo, 6-2
2. Iinuma/Shah (C) def. Mariska Chamdani/Cosme, 6-4
3. Stevens/Stewart (C) def. Jack/Juliana Simon, 6-4
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3), Singles (2,3,4,1)