ITHACA, N.Y. — The women's tennis team will begin its pursuit of a second straight Ivy League title at 1 p.m. Saturday, when it opens league play with a trip to take on Columbia at Dick Savitt Tennis Center in New York.
 
Cornell enters its championship season with a 6-7 record following 7-0 losses to a pair of national contenders, ninth-ranked Texas Tech and sixth-ranked Georgia Tech, March 16-17 in Lubbock, Texas. The Big Red has geared up for Ivy League competition with perhaps its most demanding non-conference schedule ever.
 
Freshman Cheyenne Lilienthal leads the squad in singles victories with a 7-6 mark from primarily the No. 4 position. Senior captain Priyanka Shah has competed exclusively at the top of the order, sporting the squad's best winning percentage (.545) with a 6-5 record. Junior Michelle Wang owns the most victories in doubles, where she's 7-5, and overall (12).
 
The Big Red finished in a three-way atop the Ivy League standings last season with a 5-2 mark against the rest of the Ancient Eight, which gave the program its first-ever share of an Ivy title. That run last season started with a 7-0 sweep of Columbia, which also evened the all-time series between the programs at 20-20.
 
Columbia improved to 8-5 on the season with a 4-1 victory over LIU Brooklyn on Friday. The Lions had previously taken a three-match swing through Florida, where a loss to 38th-ranked Florida International was bookended by victories over Marquette and Florida Atlantic.
 
The Lions are an even .500 at 16-16 in doubles and have found the most success at the Nos. 4 and 5 positions in singles. Andrea Kevakian (9-2) and Ali Pollack (6-3) are the leaders in those spots, with Jennifer Kerr also boasting a 9-2 mark from the top two positions. Christie Wan (4-8) typically competes at No. 1.
 
Saturday's match will be broadcast on the Ivy League Network here.