Under eighth-year head coach Julee Devoy, the Big Red women's squash team returns the bulk of its lineup after finishing the 2010-11 season ranked seventh in the nation. Cornell bounced back from a slow start to the Ivy League schedule, winning its final two league matches against Dartmouth and Brown after faltering in the first four. The Big Red then rebounded from losses to Harvard and Stanford with a victory over in the Howe Cup to claim its seventh-place standing.
 
The 2011-12 season begins this weekend with a familiar foe, Stanford, to kick off four matches at the Williams Round Robin in northwestern Massachusetts. The Big Red then begins Ivy League play against Columbia and non-league foe St. Lawrence before the intersession break. Cornell's schedule touches on the other 12 programs that finished in the top 13 last season.
 
Junior Jaime Laird – who will serve as co-captain with senior Lauren Sachvie – leads the list of incumbents after garnering second-team All-American and All-Ivy honors last season, which she finished 16th in the country individually. Jesse Pacheco was ranked 27th after a breakthrough freshman campaign at the No. 3 position.
 
There are just two seniors among the roster of 16 for the Big Red, and the five freshmen are expected to make an impression sooner than later – despite the long list of returning accomplished competitors.
 
Danielle Letourneau will strengthen the top of Cornell's lineup after representing her native Canada at the World Junior Championships over the summer. Lindsay Seginson and Rachel Au, who are Western Canadians along with Letourneau, are expected to contribute to the middle of the lineup, and Jacqueline Wagner could also find herself in scoring matches.
 
The schedule has a new twist this season, with Ivy League matches backloading the slate. Cornell has consecutive matches against Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton and Penn over a nine-day stretch concluding on Feb. 12, when the regular season ends with a non-league clash with William Smith.