The men's and women's squash teams take a break from Ivy League play with a trip to Clinton, N.Y. for matches against host Hamilton and Bates on Sunday. Both the men's and women's matches against Hamilton are slated for 10 a.m., with the clash with Bates scheduled for noon.
 
The sixth-ranked Cornell men's team (6-2) will make another in-state trip for a midweek matchup at fourth-ranked Rochester at 6 p.m. Wednesday. The Big Red is ranked sixth by the College Squash Association after a 9-0 sweep of Brown last Sunday, which followed a 7-2 loss to then-No. 1 Trinity and narrow 5-4 loss to soon-to-be No. 1 Yale (the Bulldogs defeated Trinity last week to break the Bantams' 252-match winning streak).
 
Sunday's matchup against #24 Hamilton will be the teams' first meeting since 2001, with the Big Red holding an all-time series advantage of 20-1. Bates has moved up to #18 in the last CSA poll. Up next will be the showdown with Rochester, which defeated the Big Red twice last season — 5-4 in a regular-season match at Belkin International Squash Courts, then 7-2 in the quarterfinal of the Potter Cup — the sport's national championship playoffs. While Rochester has won its last four matches against Cornell over the past two seasons, the Big holds a 55-14 edge in the all-time series.
 
The seventh-ranked Cornell women's team (6-3) figures to have a bigger test in Clinton. Hamilton, ranked 18th, is 0-6 against the Big Red since the series began in Cornell's varsity season of 1996-97. The Big Red's matchup against #9 Bates (9-3 before Saturday's match at St. Lawrence) could have implications in the national playoff picture. Only the top eight-ranked teams make the field for the Howe Cup national championship playoffs. Bates recently lost to #8 Dartmouth, 7-2, on Jan. 15.