ITHACA, N.Y. - The Cornell women's tennis team will look to build momentum heading into the offseason when it closes out its season at home against Dartmouth on Saturday, April 19 and Harvard on Sunday, April 20. Both matches will commence at 1 p.m. at the Reis Tennis Center, with Sunday's match against the Crimson serving as Senior Day for three Big Red players. Cornell will also host a midweek competition against local Division III rival Ithaca College on Thursday, April 17 at 5:30 p.m.
Cornell will honor seniors
Seychelle Balog, Alexandru Savu and
Jenny Wong as part of Saturday's activities prior to the start of the match at approximately 12:45 p.m.
The Big Red brings an 11-7 record following its 4-1 victory over Penn on April 13 to snap a three-match skid. Cornell has already surpassed last season's win total (8) and has matched its Ivy win mark (1) with two contests remaining. Cornell is 7-1 at home this season following its win over the Quakers.
Six different Big Red players have at least seven singles wins this season with sophomore
Michelle Ryndin posting a 10-6 mark while seeing a majority of her action at No. 1 singles.
Sage Loudon (10-8), Wong (9-5),
Andrea Martinez De Los Rios (8-4),
Victoria Zhao (8-9) and Balog (7-1) are also within three wins of the team lead for head coach
Katie Zordani's squad.
Thursday's matchup with local rival Ithaca College will be the first since the Big Red swept the Bombers 7-0 on March 21, 2015. Cornell swept through singles while only allowing the Bombers two total points. IC is 5-10 on the year under head coach Mari Mitchell and is coming off 7-0 sweep at Bard College this past Sunday. Senior Taylor Crain is 10-5 on the season at No. 1 singles, with Alys Pop a strong 9-6 at No. 2 to lead the Bombers. Crain and Sabrina Cheung are 6-4 at the top spot in doubles.
The Big Green brings a 9-11 record (2-3 Ivy) into Saturday's matchup following a 4-1 triumph over Brown this past weekend at home. The two teams met in February in the ECAC Indoor Championship with the Big Red claiming a 4-3 triumph on the strength of a three-set win by Ryndin at No. 1 singles in a tiebreaker to clinch it. Michela Moore is 11-6 on the year while playing in the top two spots in the order, with Peyton Capuano joining her near the top of the lineup and in the standings at 9-8. Head coach Bob Dallis is in his 23rd season as a head coach at Dartmouth and is approaching 500 career victories as a Division I head coach (471-461).
The Crimson enter the weekend atop the Ivy standings at 13-8 (5-0 Ivy). The Crimson hold a two-game lead with two to play, including a matchup with 3-2 Columbia on Saturday. The doubles team of Kayva Karra and Stephanie Yakoff qualified for the NCAA championships in the fall and are 10-6 overall together. Karra is 20-4 in singles while primarily playing at the bottom of the lineup, with Holly Fischer (11-6) seeing most of her action at No. 1 in the lineup for head coach Traci Green. Harvard has gone 8-1 in its past nine matches entering the weekend.
