ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell women's tennis team returns to the court this weekend for matches against Central New York rival Syracuse before facing Delaware for the first time in program history.

Cornell's match against Syracuse will take place at the Drumlins Country Club on Friday at 3 p.m. Game action will be broadcast live on ACC Network Extra.

Following the clash between the pair of Central New York programs, the Big Red will welcome Delaware to the Reis Tennis Center to begin a three-match homestand before the ECAC Indoor Championships on Feb. 10-12, hosted by Dartmouth.

The Big Red (0-2) is coming off a pair of losses to Boston University and NJIT in its first pair of matches of the spring season.

Sophomore Lan Mi won both of her matches at No. 1 singles, including a commanding 6-0, 6-3 victory over NJIT last Sunday.

Junior Lauren Stein and sophomore Alexandra Savu won both of their matches at the top doubles spot last weekend.

Senior Fatima El Ashram and freshman Emma Baker also recorded victories for the Big Red in singles.

Scouting Syracuse

Syracuse enters the weekend with a 2-0 record after posting 7-0 and 6-1 victories, respectively, over NJIT and Boston University.

The Orange (2-0) saw five of its six singles players post 2-0 records on the weekend, including Miyuka Kimoto (No. 1), Zeynep Erman (No. 2), and Viktoriya Kanapatskayta (No. 3) at the top three positions.

Polina Kozyreva (No. 5) and Ines Fonte (No. 6) were the other two players to go unbeaten in the opening week of matches. Kozyreva posted a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Boston University last Sunday.

Last season, Cornell fell to Syracuse, 6-1. Jenny Wong registered the Big Red's lone point of the match at No. 6 singles, 2-6, 6-3, 10-7, over Fonte.

Cornell has not defeated its Central New York rival since posting a 5-2 win over the Orange on Feb. 15, 2008.

Scouting Delaware

Delaware will be appearing in its first set of matches this weekend when the Blue Hens make the trip to Central New York to play Cornell before heading north to play Syracuse on Sunday.

The Blue Hens went 19-6 last year, while posting a 3-2 mark in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play.

Alina Vasilenko returns for her sophomore year, a year removed from her 19-2 overall record in duals which included a 13-2 mark at No. 2 singles. Isabella Montana (15-6) and Eliza Askarova (15-8) each recorded 15-win seasons in dual matches last spring.

Looking Ahead

Following Saturday's match with Delaware, the Big Red will remain at the Reis Tennis Center for another pair of home matches against Indiana and Niagara next weekend. The opening match of the weekend slate will be on Friday, Feb. 3 at 3 p.m. against the Hoosiers before welcoming the Purple Eagles to East Hill at 10 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 5.