Women’s tennis wrapped up its fall season at the University at Buffalo Invite over the weekend from Nov. 4 to Nov. 6.
The Red traveled to the University at Buffalo, where they faced off in matches against Syracuse, Buffalo, New Jersey Institute of Technology and Niagara University. The team went 8-7 in singles and 4-2 in doubles during the UB Invite.
Sophomore Lan Mi and freshman Emma Baker had strong showings, each winning all three of their singles matches.
“There was definitely a lot of progress made throughout this semester, especially Lan and Emma [who] went undefeated at Buffalo. It was great to see them compete,” said head coach Katie Zordani.
Mi continued her dominant performance this season, registering wins over Shiori Ito of Syracuse, Shivani Ingle of NJIT and Pia Schwarz of Buffalo. This follows her run to the semi-finals of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Super Regionals in October.
Baker has also found success on the court this fall. At the UB Invite, she defeated Joleta Budiman of NJIT and Basak Akbas of Buffalo in straight sets. In addition, she defeated Buffalo’s doubles team alongside partner sophomore Alexandra Savu.
“I was really happy with how I did in singles,” Baker said. “I faced some pretty tough opponents.”
Earlier this season, Baker won matches at the Columbia Invitational and West Point Invite.
She discussed the importance of having support from her team and the impact it made on her play.
“In tennis, you usually don’t have a coach supporting you. [College tennis] is definitely a different environment where you can consistently get support and advice and someone to bounce ideas off of,” Baker said. “I think that helps a lot when you’re in tough situations. And I think having team support is really helpful as well.”
The team has entered its offseason, which will continue until Dec. 2.
“[During winter break,] the team practices on their own and do all their lifting and conditioning that our strength and conditioning coach has prescribed to them,” Zordani said, reflecting on the team’s preparation for the spring season. “Then when they come back on Jan. 13, we will have about a week to start practicing and preparing for the spring semester.”
Cornell will return to competition after winter break, with their first match scheduled on Saturday, Jan. 21.