MOUNT VERNON – The Cornell women's tennis team opened the season with a trio of victories to capture the Rams Invitational. The Rams (3-0) took down Buena Vista University (7-0), Edgewood University (7-0), and University of Wisconsin-Stout (6-1), this weekend, on the Hilltop.

Edgewood finished the weekend 2-1, UW-Stout went 1-2, and Buena Vista finished 0-3. Cornell captured their home invite for the first time in its third year of the event. 

The Rams started strong against Buena Vista sweeping the match decisively. Freshmen Annika Dox and Meredith Maxwell, sophomore Jenna Benkufsky, and senior Audrey Small went 2-0 against the Beavers. 

In the afternoon, the Rams continued their strong play with wins at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles for the doubles point. Cornell recorded straight set wins at every singles position, including a tight win at No. 1 singles by Mac Graves over the Eagles Evelyn Taylor 6-2, 7-6. 

On Sunday morning, the Rams played UW-Stout to finish the weekend. The match started with a sweep in doubles in the Rams favor, with 6-3 victories at No. 1 and No. 2, and a 6-2 win at No. 3. Cornell finished with straight set wins at No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, and No. 4 singles, and a tiebreak win at No. 5. Benkufsky closed out the match 3-6, 6-3, 10-2. 

Five newcomers in Michaela Clark, Dox, Maxwell, Mirabel Pinkerton and Kortney Travis all secured their first wins of their collegiate careers. Dox finished 6-0, with all matches being won in straight sets. Clark, Mac Graves, and Tansy Graves enjoyed 4-0 weekends individually. Benkufsky also finished 5-1 at the invite this weekend as well.

The Rams travel to Pella, IA, next weekend on Sept. 6, to compete in the Dutch Invite against Central College and Morningside University.