Only two weeks into the new season, things are beginning to take shape for the men’s and women’s tennis teams. Both squads competed in the ECAC/Ivy Challenge over the weekend, with the men taking two of their three matches and the women picking up one victory in three tries.

In only the second week of the new tennis season, the Red will have the opportunity to compete against some of the top teams in the country in the ECAC/Ivy League Challenge. The men’s team heads out to New Haven, Conn., while the women make their way to Cambridge, Mass., for the same competition.

In what will undoubtedly be a very busy weekend at the Reis Tennis Center, the men’s tennis team will take the courts for the first time in over three months. The Red kicks off the new season with matches against Binghamton and Georgetown on Saturday, capped off by a bout with Marist on Sunday.

After a three-month respite, the women’s tennis team kicks off the new season this weekend in Ithaca at the annual Cornell Winter Invitational. Thus far the Red has only taken part in individual event tournaments, including trips to West Point, N.Y., Cambridge, Mass. and the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y.

Women’s tennis wrapped up the fall season this weekend at the Harvard Invitational in Cambridge, Mass. In the final event before the winter session begins in January, the Red capped off a strong season of individual play with the Invite.

After a strong start to the individual events portion of the schedule, the women’s tennis team looks to get back on track this weekend in Flushing, N.Y., at the BJK College Invitational. The Red was dominant in sweeping the major awards at the early season Cornell Fall Invitational; however that success did not follow the team to the Army Invitational two weeks ago.

The Red, behind head coach David Geatz, travel to this weekend’s invitational with the mindset that each member of the team will focus on a specific part of their game that needs improvement.

Junior Leah Seyburn stressed the importance of each individual player being able to correct the mistakes that plagued the team at Army.

In important matches against its Ancient Eight rivals this weekend, the Red tennis teams saw mixed results. The men’s team (12-5, 3-2 Ivy) remained perfect at home, beating Yale 6-1 on Friday and defeating Brown, 5-2, on Saturday. The women’s team, facing the same opponents on the road, dropped both matches, losing 7-0 in both outings.

As the weather gets nicer, the opponents get tougher and the games become more consequential for the Cornell men’s and women’s tennis teams. After suffering losses to Harvard in their last outing, both the men’s and women’s teams look to return to their winning ways this weekend, in games against Ivy League foes, Yale and Brown.

The men’s team (10-5, 1-2 Ivy) was edged out by Harvard, 4-3, on Saturday. The loss reflected the team’s recent underwhelming play, having also lost to Columbia before its match against the Crimson. The Red, which previously held a six-game win streak over Spring Break, currently possesses a losing record, 1-2, against Ancient Eight rivals.

After an extremely successful trip to the west coast, men’s tennis begins its Ivy campaign in New York City against Columbia on Saturday. The Red (9-3) is on a seven game winning streak.

In their matchup last year, the Red lost in an extremely tight match, 4-3. However, the team has many more wins this year than it did going into its Ivy season, and their success on the road in Calif. during spring break will to be a big confidence booster against the Ancient Eight.

The women’s team has had the opposite result in both their California sojourn and their preaseason. The women (4-9) are struggling. The team took two straight losses in California after defeating Azusa Pacific University. The Red will host Columbia at home at Reis Tennis center.

Eye on the prize: The women’s tennis team entered the ECAC Indoor Championships seeded sixth and finished the tournament in sixth.According to freshman Stephanie Kent, “the score didn’t reflect the level of play.”

Sophomore Ruxandra Dumitrescu and senior Shayna Miller each dropped their first sets against the Bears, 6-2, before losing their second sets on tiebreakers, 7-6 (2). Gut-wrenching losses became a theme over the weekend.

“We learned that any match can go either way,” Miller said. “We need to work for every point because that point could potentially decide the match.”