With the snow all but gone and Spring Break just days away, it is not uncommon to have trouble focusing this time of year. Fortunately, this fate did not befall the tennis teams this weekend, as the Red took care of business against both St. Bonaventure and Stony Brook at the Reis Tennis Center on Saturday afternoon.

In what will unquestionably be a very busy weekend at the Reis Tennis Center, the Red will host four schools over the next three days. The action kicks off tomorrow when the women’s team takes on Binghamton (3-0, 0-0 AEC). The Red (2-3, 0-0 Ivy) then plays Rutgers (3-1, 1-0 Big East) in a Sunday morning matinee to close out the weekend. While the women are off the courts, the men’s team will face off against Buffalo (2-1, 0-0 MAC) and Fairleigh Dickinson (2-1, 0-0 NEC) in a double header on Saturday.

The first week of team competition is now in the books for the men’s tennis team after matches against Marist and Binghamton were completed over the weekend at the Reis Tennis Center. The Red (1-1, 0-0 Ivy) defeated Marist on Saturday, 5-2, before falling to Binghamton in the nightcap of the day’s events. Cornell defeated Marist (1-2, 1-0 MAAC) in six of the nine matches the two teams played to win its first event of the new season. A few hours later the Red was unable to duplicate that success, losing to a very tough Binghamton squad (5-0, 0-0 AEC), 5-2.

On a weekend that featured the conclusion of the Australian Open, there was also plenty of tennis to be seen at the Reis Tennis Center in Ithaca, N.Y. The women’s team competed in the annual Cornell Winter Invitational, a precursor to the beginning of the new season.

[SIDEBAR]The tennis teams — both men’s and wome’ns — had a mixed weekend, with both teams winning and some and losing some in their respective invitationals.

The women finished up the weekend at the prestigious Eastern Championships. the event was massive, with 30 different teams attending the competition hosted by Army.

All for one: The women’s tennis team prepares to compete in a match against Fairleigh Dickinson.Operating under these odds, the women did quite well, with freshmen Geraldine Leong and Kristen Kim Lin winning the second doubles finals by a score of 8-3 over perrenial opponent Stony Brook.

The women’s tennis team could not capitalize on a strong effort this past weekend, losing a close contest to Syracuse by a score of 3-4. After suffering a similar defeat to University of Buffalo earlier in the week, the Red was unable to pick up a win against the Orange, extending its current losing streak to four games. On the other side of the coin, the men’s team, while sitting out its Georgia State contest due to rain, split a pair of matches on Friday to start off its southern road trip. The team beat Wofford College early in the day, 7-0, but then lost to Furman College, 4-3.Don’t blink: Freshman Stephanie Kent is one of the women who won their singles matches against Syracuse this weekend.

The women’s tennis team will head north to Syracuse to face the Orangemen this Friday. The team has been riding a three-game skid, but Syracuse will be a much harder test than any of the teams the Red has faced so far. The men will also be traveling, competing in S.C. and Ga. Syracuse opened its 2009 season with six-straight wins, taking its first lost this past week against Iowa. The team beat Buffalo in solid fashion, 5-2, a team that recently took down the Red in a close contest. The Red will need a new sense of game if it intends to inflict damage against Syracuse.[img_assist|nid=35580|title=Across the net|desc=Sophomore Jeremy Feldman gauges an incoming shot during the men’s match against Binghamton on Feb. 11.

In their first action since the fall season, the women’s tennis team burned up the courts at the Reis Tennis Center this past weekend. Although the Red hosted Binghamton, Niagara, Temple, Army, and UMBC at the pre-season Winter Invitational, Cornell stood out in the limelight as seven of the eight players participating reached at least the semifinals during the event.

Call it strength through unity: a powerful team mentality that allowed the women’s tennis team to upend its opponents this past weekend. Or just call it good timing. Either way, the women’s tennis team wrapped up its fall season this past weekend at Purdue University in Indiana, notching up several wins over tough opponents. Cornell was the only team from the Northeast in attendance at the Purdue Invitational, and this was the first — and last — time that the whole team traveled to the same invitational this season. In the past, tournaments had only featured a handful of Cornell players.

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — This time, big sister put little sister in her place.

Advantage, Miss Venus Williams.

She defeated Serena 7-5, 6-4 Saturday for her fifth Wimbledon title and second in a row. Venus avenged two previous losses to her younger sibling in the final at the All England Club and reasserted her dominance on her favorite court and favorite grass surface.