Women’s Tennis Jumps Out to 4-0 Start

Men’s basketball is not the only Cornell team to boast a perfect record, as the women’s tennis squad remains unbeaten early in the season. The Red earned 4-3 victories over Syracuse and UMass this weekend to improve to 4-0.
On Friday afternoon, Cornell and Syracuse split all six decisions in singles play and the Red captured the doubles point to earn its third straight victory.
Cornell’s No. 1 doubles team of junior Elizabeth Googe and junior Tamara John edged sophomore Ashley Spicer and freshman Simone Kalhorn, 8-6, while the Red’s No. 3 doubles team of freshmen Sinziana Chis and Ruxandra Dumitrescu defeated freshman Christina Tan and sophomore Chelsea Jones, 8-3.
[img_assist|nid=27962|title=Guiding light|desc=Junior Tamara John smacks a shot in her win over Syracuse’s Maria Vasilyeva at Reis Tennis Center Friday.|link=node|align=left|width=|height=0]
“Tammy and I haven’t played doubles since freshman year and this was only our third match together,” Googe said. “[Spicer and Kalhorn] came out aggressive and I wasn’t sure how it would go, but Tammy played well and we won fortunately.”
John also contributed a stellar performance in singles action. Down 4-1 in the third and decisive set in the final match of the day , she was able to persevere and beat junior Maria Vasilyeva 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-4.
Cornell won Saturday’s match against UMass in identical fashion as it split the singles contests and captured the doubles point for a 4-3 win.
The loss marks the second year in a row that the Minutewomen split singles matches with the Red only to lose the contest in doubles play.
“Our record is not as important as playing well,” Googe said. “We have a lot of freshmen in the lineup and it gave them confidence for the rest of the season. I think it also means a lot to [first year head] coach [Rob Weiss] that we’re getting off to a good start.