The women’s squash team finally has the match its been waiting for all season. The Red will face Brown on Sunday.
“We want to beat Brown so we can get into the top-8,” said head coach Julee Devoy.
If the Red make the top-8, it would qualify for the top division at the team championships. This will not be an easy task as it faces a No. 70 nationally-ranked Brown squad. Although the Red is ranked 10th, the team is very confident in its ability to pull off the upset — especially since it defeated Brown 8-1 in the preseason Ivy scrimmage.
“It’s going to be hard,” Devoy said. “But if we stay focused and play well then we definitely have a chance of beating them.”
Before facing Brown, the Red will play Tufts and William Smith, both of whom rank lower than Cornell.
The Red was without No. 1 sophomore Maxi Prinsen during its last match against Dartmouth, though her return for this one is probable.
This is also the last home match for seniors Anna Beavis, Margot Dickson and senior co-captain Jaime Singer.
“All of the seniors have contributed really well to the team,” Devoy said. “I couldn’t ask for more.”
The Red hopes to attain its second goal of the season after achieving its first with a win over Bates, 5-4.
“Bates was our first goal,” Devoy said. “Brown is our next.”
The men also have some very critical matches this weekend including Brown, Hobart, Tufts and a ninth-ranked Navy squad.
The Red dropped out of the top-10 after losing to lower-ranked Amherst, but now looks to bounce back with a good performance this weekend.
Of the four teams only No. 9 Navy is in the top-10 and ranked higher than Cornell.
“The two hard ones are going to be Navy and Brown,” Devoy said. “If we beat them then I think we can beat all four teams this weekend.”
The squad had been set back by injuries during their last couple of matches, but the team was fortunate enough to get two weeks off to recover. All of the players were scheduled to play this weekend, however, No. 2 freshman Steve Peever recently was injured during practice and will not be able to play.
“Everybody was doing well until our No. 2 got hurt,” Devoy said. “Some of the guys on the bottom are going to have to step it up now.”
The Red will have to cope with the loss as it faces some very important matches going into the post-season.
This weekend will hold the last home matches for seniors Geoff Tang, and co-captains Rohit Gupta and Ted Hill. The co-captains hope to finish the regular season strong and head into the post-season with a positive outlook.
The Red’s main goal all season was to maintain its ninth-place ranking. After dropping out of ninth place last week, the players are motivated to play well this weekend, and hope that a win against a ranked squad will push them back into the top-10 of the national rankings.