PRINCETON, N.J. — There were 21 years between the women's tennis team's second and third all-time victories against Princeton — but after Friday's match, less than two months between the third and the fourth.
 
Junior Madison Stevens staved off her opponent at No. 6 singles to clinch, and Cornell pushed its winning streak to eight straight matches with a 6-1 victory over the three-time defending Ivy League champion Tigers at Jadwin Gymnasium. With the win, the Big Red improves to 12-4 overall and stays in a tie for first place in the Ivy League at 2-0 with Harvard.
 
The Big Red started off by scratching out the doubles point. Junior Priyanka Shah and sophomore Mariko Iinuma won handily at the No. 2 position, but Princeton held leads late in the two remaining matches. As juniors Madison Stevens and Lizzie Stewart were forcing a tiebreaker at No. 3, the senior tandem of Marika Cusick and Alexandra D'Ascenzo surged to win three straight games at No. 1 to secure the opening point for the visitors. Cornell is now 31-11 in dual-match doubles.
 
Cornell took four of the six opening sets in singles, eventually extending the lead to 3-0 with straight-set victories from D'Ascenzo (No. 2) and Iinuma (No. 5). Princeton (10-7, 1-1) got on the board with a win at No. 3, but Stevens closed out the match at No. 6. She prevailed in a first-set tiebreaker, then shook off a dropped second set to win, 6-1, in the third and snap her opponent's seven-match winning streak in singles.
 
Cusick then capped a three-set rally at No. 1, and Stewart completed the day by surviving a third-set tiebreaker at No. 4 to record her team-leading 12th singles victory of the dual season.
 
Cornell improved to 4-36 all-time against Princeton, with the other wins against the Tigers coming in 1995, 1996 and the ECAC Indoor Championships in February. The Big Red returns home for its next match, taking on Penn at 1 p.m. Sunday at Reis Tennis Center. The match is free to attend and open to the public.
 
CORNELL 6, PRINCETON 1
Singles
1. Marika Cusick (C) def. Katherine Steffensen, 1-6, 6-4, 6-3
2. Alexandra D'Ascenzo (C) def. Tiffany Chen, 6-1, 6-2
3. Sivan Krems (P) def. Priyanka Shah, 7-6(5), 6-2
4. Lizzie Stewart (C) def. Caroline Joyce, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(7)
5. Mariko Iinuma (C) def. Nicole Kalhorn, 6-4, 6-2
6. Madison Stevens (C) def. Clare McKee, 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-1
Doubles
1. Cusick/D'Ascenzo (C) def. Joyce/Kalhorn, 7-5
2. Iinuma/Shah (C) def. Krems/Gaby Pollner, 6-2
3. Stevens/Stewart (C) vs. McKee/Steffensen, DNF (6-6)
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1), Singles (2,5,3,6,1,4)