ITHACA, N.Y. – The Cornell women's tennis team gets its dual season under way this weekend, when it makes the short trip to Drumlins Country Club to take on host Syracuse at 11 a.m. Sunday.
 
The Big Red's fall competition was highlighted by the advancement of three competitors to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Northeast Super Regional Championships. Freshman Lan Mi progressed as far as the Round of 16 in singles, while the doubles tandem of senior Maria Adiaconitei and sophomore Lauren Stein made its way as far as the quarterfinals in doubles. Including all competition in fall tournaments, Mi led the team with a 7-3 record in singles. Seychelle Balong (4-2), Alexandra Savu (3-2), Valerie Ho (2-1) and Stein (4-3) also won more than they respectively lost.  
 
The dual match will be Cornell's first since Feb. 24, 2020. The Big Red was 2-11 after that setback against James Madison, then COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the rest of the season and the entire 2020-21 campaign.
 
Syracuse is off to a 2-1 start, having defeated Army West Point in its opener, 6-1 on Jan. 15, before splitting a pair of home matches last weekend. The Orange defeated Brown on Saturday, 5-2, before suffering a loss by the same score the next day against Penn State. Shiori Ito (#4) and Polina Kozyreva (#5) are both 3-0 in singles play, and the #3 doubles team of Ines Fonte and Viktoriya Kanapatskaya is also 3-0.
 
The Big Red is 6-18 all-time against the Orange in spring play, dating back to the first meeting in 1985. Syracuse won the last meeting, 5-2, on Jan. 27, 2020. Adiaconitei had a had in both Cornell points, teaming up with Ho to win the #1 doubles match and winning her own #3 singles match in a super tiebreaker.