The regular season will come to an end for the squash teams this weekend, as the Red travels to Princeton, N.J., Friday afternoon to face the Tigers, before returning home to Belkin to host a doubleheader on Sunday morning. The Cornell men’s team — ranked No. 6 by the College Squash Association — is fresh off a three-match weekend, having defeated No. 8 Franklin and Marshall and No. 7 Dartmouth, before suffering a close loss at the hands of No. 4 Harvard.
“[That] weekend went all right,” said junior Owen Butler. “It wasn’t what we wanted, but we all fought hard and tried our best. It was actually a really close match [against Harvard], 5-4.”
The Red experienced a change in the normal starting lineup last weekend, according to junior Rishi Jalan, as senior co-captains Alex Domenick and Will Hartigan were absent due to injuries. “We’re looking for our whole team … coming back,” Jalan said. “We had a lot of injuries mid-season, but we are hoping to beat [Princeton] and have a good weekend before nationals.”
The squad (10-3, 3-2 Ivy League) is looking forward to the chance to take down Princeton (10-1, 5-0), which is No. 3 in the country and No. 1 in the Ivy League.
“It’s a big weekend we have, if we can get a win against Princeton, that would really boost our confidence right before nationals,” Jalan said.
Last year’s individual national championship featured Cornell junior Nick Sachvie and Princeton junior Todd Harrity. Harrity ultimately won, so Friday’s prospective matchup at the No. 1 spot could prove to be be particularly exciting for fans to watch.
After facing the Tigers, Cornell will return home to play against No. 10 Penn (4-6, 1-4) on Sunday morning. The Quakers have been experiencing a rocky streak as of late, dropping five of their last six matches. Cornell topped Penn in the teams’ last four matchups. That afternoon, the men will close out their season with a match against No. 27 Hobart (10-15). If the Red notches victories over both Princeton and Penn this weekend the team would set a record for Ivy League wins in a season.
On the womens side, Cornell (10-3, 3-2) — ranked No. 7 by the College Squash Association — sits tied for a program record of Ivy League victories in a season after last Saturday’s 5-4 win over Dartmouth. Defeating Princeton would be a first in program history for the Red. Sunday morning welcomes No. 4 Penn (6-3, 3-2), who leads the series against the Red, 16-2. The Quakers have three players that finished last season ranked in the Top-20. Cornell wraps up the season against No. 25 William Smith Sunday afternon.
Original Author: Lauren Ritter