ITHACA, N.Y. – The women's tennis team returns to Reis Tennis Center this weekend to kick off a six-match home stand, hosting Connecticut at 5 p.m. Friday and Rutgers at 10:30 a.m. Sunday.
 
Cornell (3-4) is coming off a fourth-place finish at the ECAC Indoor Championships last weekend in Princeton, N.J. The Big Red won its opening match against Yale, but it was then defeated by Dartmouth and Brown to wrap up play. Junior Mariko Iinuma, sophomore Ananya Dua and freshman Cheyenne Lilienthal each had singles victories against the Bulldogs, then the Big Red got its lone point against the Big Green in doubles. The No. 1 pairing of Iinuma and senior captain Priyanka Shah has won its last three matches to reach completion.
 
Connecticut (4-2) split a pair of matches last weekend, suffering a 5-2 loss Friday at Syracuse before staving off a Stony Brook rally for a 4-3 victory on Sunday. The Huskies started their spring season with home victories against Siena (Jan. 28) and Marist (7-0). Yelyzaveta Pletnyeva is 5-1 from the top singles position and tied for the team's best dual record with Cassie Chung, who competes from the lower half of the order. The Huskies have been solid in dual doubles at 12-5, including a perfect 6-0 record from the top spot.
 
This will be the third time the Big Red and Huskies meet, with the previous two clashes coming in each of the last two seasons. Cornell held on for a 4-3 victory in 2016 in Ithaca, then reciprocated with a trip to the Nutmeg State and a 5-2 victory last year. Iinuma and Shah won in both singles and doubles that day.
 
Rutgers is 4-0 after a 6-1 victory over Seton Hall on Saturday, though it will sport a different record Sunday after the Scarlet Knights take on Connecticut at noon Saturday at Reis. Rutgers opened the dual season with victories against Binghamton and Army in January, then a 6-1 triumph over Delaware on Feb. 4. The Knights are a combined 12-0 from the Nos 3, 4 and 5 positions in the singles order, thanks to Kat Muzik, Jaci Cochrane and Maya Jacobs. Cochrane and Jacobs are also 3-0 from the No. 2 doubles spot.
 
The match with Rutgers restarts a series that's seen Cornell post a 5-8 record up until the programs' last meeting in 2010. All of this weekend's matches at Reis are open to the public and free to attend.