ITHACA, N.Y. – With a host of invitationals and tournaments in its wake, the women's tennis team has its first scoring matches of the 2011-12 season this weekend against Maryland-Baltimore County and Temple at Reis Tennis Center.
 
The Big Red enters the team portion of its season after taking three of five titles at the Cornell Winter Invitational last weekend in Ithaca. Freshman Lauren Frazier is 12-3 in matches so far, having defeated classmate Gabby Sullivan (11-8) for the B Singles championship last weekend.
 
Junior Christine Ordway was the Big Red's primary No. 1 singles player last season. She posted a 10-5 mark in tournament play in 2011-12, advancing to the A Singles finals last weekend. Ordway and classmate Sarah O'Neil are the ninth-ranked doubles team in the Northeast Region.
 
The weekend begins with a 10 a.m. Saturday match against UMBC (2-1). The Retrievers are coming off a pair of home victories over St. Francis (Pa.) and St. Joseph's after a season-opening loss to Penn State.
 
Sophomore Kim Berghaus, the 2011 America East Rookie of the Year, is currently ranked 111th nationally and 20th in the Atlantic Region. She competes primarily at the No. 1 position with TCU transfer Shalini Sahoo holding down the No. 2 spot. Five of the seven women on UMBC's roster are from outside of the United States. The Big Red holds a 4-1 advantage in the all-time series, with the last match a 7-0 victory on March 5, 2005.
 
Temple was picked to finish second in the 14-team Atlantic 10 conference in the league's preseason poll of coaches. The Owls' top returner is Sophomore Yana Mavrina was an all-conference second-team pick last season playing primarily at No. 3 singles.


Mavrina has already faced Big Red sophomore Ryann Young in the first round of September's Cissie Leary Invitational, with Young securing a 6-3, 6-4 victory. Cornell was 4-0 in singles and 3-0 in doubles matches against Temple in the fall. Owls sophomores Alicia Doms and Jordan Batey also spent consider time competing in the top six last season. Cornell is 7-1 all-time against Temple.