MOUNT VERNON –  The Cornell women's tennis team starts their fall conference season with two victories, defeating the Illinois College Lady Blues (5-4, 0-2 MWC) and the Monmouth Scots (0-4, 0-2 MWC), going 5-2 against both teams. 

The Rams, now 2-0 in the MWC, improve to 4-1 overall for the season. Cornell has won 10 of the last 11 matches over Illinois College, and secured their 12th straight victory over Monmouth.

The team started with wins in doubles against both the Lady Blues and the Scots, securing the doubles point in both matches. Sophomores Tansy Graves and Mac Graves took a win over the Lady Blues 6-3, but fell to the Scots 5-7 in the afternoon. Freshmen pair Alyssa Flynn and Jenna Benkufsky also went 1-1 in doubles this weekend, 6-2 against Illinois College, then losing a tight match to Monmouth's No.2 doubles. Junior Audrey Small and Sophomore Isabella Wallin went 2-0 in doubles over the weekend, beating the Scots 6-4 and the Lady Blues 6-3, improving to 4-0 overall in the season as partners. 

The Rams completed the match against Illinois College with the wins of Tansy Graves, Mac Graves, Flynn and Benkufsky at the No.1, No. 2, and No. 6 singles spots respectively. Flynn triumphed at No. 4 singles with a tiebreaker victory 6-4, 2-6, 10-6. 

Against the Scots, both Tansy Graves and Wallin fell in close singles matches, Graves in a match tiebreaker 5-7, 6-3, 5-10 and Wallin 1-6, 6-7 (2). Small finished her match with a 6-1 6-2 win, Flynn with a 6-2, 6-1 victory and Benkufsky improving her singles record to 5-2, with a 6-0, 6-0 win. 

Mac Graves moves her singles record to 7-0 on the season with a win at No. 2 singles, 6-2, 6-4.

Coming up – The Rams will compete at the ITA Midwest regional this coming weekend, Sep. 20-Sep. 22, at St. Peter, MN.