ITHACA, N.Y. — Fresh off the program's first Ivy League title, the women's tennis gets the new dual season under way this weekend with a pair of home matches against Missouri and Army West Point at Reis Tennis Center.
Mike Stevens, the Carl H. Meinig '31 Head Coach of Women's Tennis, returns for his eighth season at the helm after a memorable 2016-17 campaign that ended with his garnering of Ivy League Coach of the Year honors. The Big Red has won a program record 15 matches in each of the last two seasons, including a share of the Ivy crown last year and a final national ranking of 49th. Marika Cusick '17 was named the ITA Northeast Region's Most Improved Player and unanimously selected as the Ivy League Player of the Year.
Senior
Priyanka Shah returns to serve as captain for a second season, having also posted a 14-4 record in singles from the top half of the order and a 13-5 mark in doubles. The Big Red will also have a couple more incumbents in the fold, including senior
Madison Stevens having posted an 11-6 record in singles and a team-high 14 wins in doubles. Junior
Mariko Iinuma was 11-4 from the Nos. 4 and 5 singles positions and 12-5 in doubles.
Shah led the Big Red with nine singles victories in fall tournament play, including a run into the Round of 16 at the ITA Northeast Regionals in October.
Cheyenne Lilienthal ranked second on the team with six fall singles wins. She joins classmates
Ana Elhom and
Molly Sandberg as this season's newcomers.
Up first is a visit from Missouri (2-0) at 5:30 p.m. Friday. The Tigers started up last Saturday with a pair of home victories against Southeast Missouri, 5-0, and Central Arkansas, 6-1. The Tigers were 11-14 last year, and senior Amina Ismail was part of a doubles that qualified for the NCAA championships. It's just the second all-time meeting between the programs, with the Big Red having won the first in 1991.
The Big Red takes on Army West Point at 1 p.m. Saturday. It will mark the 15th match between the programs, with Cornell having won 13. The latest was a 7-0 victory to start the teams' seasons last year – also at Reis. Ana Joyner made the finals of the 'A' bracket in last weekend's NJIT Invite. Her 12 tournament victories this year rank second on the team to Hannah Boubel's mark of 17-3.
This weekend's matches at Reis are open to the public and free to attend.
