ITHACA, N.Y. — Junior Lizzie Stewart won in both singles and doubles, but the women's tennis team suffered its first Ivy League loss on Sunday with a 4-3 setback against Penn at Reis Tennis Center.
 
The loss ended an eight-match winning streak for Cornell (12-5, 2-1 Ivy League) and dropped it into a tie for second place in league play behind a Harvard squad that won a pair of 4-3 decisions this weekend against Brown and Yale.
 
Penn (8-8, 1-2) essentially won by taking the doubles point to start the day, with the teams then splitting the six singles matches on the outdoor courts at Reis.
 
The Quakers also won the day's first singles match to reach completion at No. 3 to take a 2-0 lead before the Big Red rallied to tie it. Stewart battled back from a first-set loss to win convincingly in the second and third sets at No. 4 to get Cornell on the board, then sophomore Mariko Iinuma pulled out a first-set tiebreaker en route to wrapping up her match at No. 5 in straight sets.
 
The three remaining matches all went to three sets, but the Quakers prevailed in two of them to clinch. Senior Marika Cusick then closed out the match by surging to win at the No. 1 spot.
 
With four matches to play in the regular season, the Big Red hosts a pivotal pair of matches in its next action. Cornell hosts Dartmouth at 2 p.m. Friday, then takes on league-leading Harvard at 2 p.m. Saturday.
 
PENN 4, CORNELL 3
Singles
1. Marika Cusick (C) def. #89 Kana Daniel, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4
2. Ria Vaidya (P) def. Alexandra D'Ascenzo, 5-7, 6-2, 6-3
3. Ashley Zhu (P) def. Priyanka Shah, 7-5, 6-3
4. Lizzie Stewart (C) def. Lina Qostal, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2
5. Mariko Iinuma (C) def. Sarah Dreyfuss, 7-6(5), 7-5
6. Marta Kowalska (P) def. Madison Stevens, 6-1, 5-7, 7-5
Doubles
1. Daniel/OJ Singh (P) def. Cusick/D'Ascenzo, 6-3
2. Qostal/Vaidya (P) def. Iinuma/Shah, 7-5
3. Stevens/Stewart (C) def. Kowalska/Luba Vazhenina, 6-3
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2), Singles (3,4,5,6,2,1)
Records: Cornell 12-5, 2-1 Ivy; Penn 8-8, 1-2 Ivy