ITHACA, N.Y. — The men's and women's squash teams will host its biggest weekend of the season with three matches apiece from Friday to Sunday against Franklin & Marshall, Dartmouth and Harvard.
 
The seventh-ranked Big Red women's team (8-3, 2-1 Ivy League) has won its last three matches against Brown, Hamilton and Bates. Jessenia Pacheco and Jaime Laird are both 8-2 on the season while flip-flopping in the Nos. 2 and 3 position in the Big Red lineup.
 
The sixth-ranked Cornell men's team (8-3, 2-1 Ivy League) is coming off a 7-2 loss against No. 4 Rochester. Owen Butler has the most victories for the Big Red, posting a 10-1 record in positions 6-8. Butler and Arjun Gupta secured Cornell's two points against Rochester.
 
The matches against Franklin & Marshall begin at 6 p.m. Friday at Belkin International Squash Courts. The Diplomats' men's team (8-4) is tabbed eighth in the most recent College Squash Association rankings, entering this weekend on a five-match winning streak. All five of those matches were played in a five-day span from Jan. 18-22, including a 5-4 win over #10 Penn. The Big Red has won its last 16 matches against F&M, dating back to 1998. This includes an 11-0 record under current head coach Mark Devoy.
 
The 18th-ranked F&M women's team (8-7) has also won five straight, all coming Jan. 21-22 at the Pioneer Valley Invitational. The Diplomats have dropped their last seven matches against Cornell, and has been swept, 9-0, by all four of its previous Ivy League opponents this season.
 
Ivy League play returns at noon Saturday with Dartmouth invading Belkin. The Dartmouth men's team (6-4, 1-2) is ranked just behind Cornell at seventh. The Big Red has won its last five victories against the Big Green over the last three years, including a 7-2 decision at home on Jan. 29, 2011. Dartmouth has dropped its last two matches to No. 2 Trinity and No. 4 Rochester. Half of its win have come with 5-4 scores against F&M, Penn and Williams.
 
The Big Green's women's team (3-4, 0-3) is ranked eighth — again, immediately behind the Big Red. Cornell has won four straight in the series, including a pair of 5-4 wins last season — the latter in the seventh-place match at the Howe Cup. Dartmouth recently solidified its placed in the eight-team national championship event with matching 7-2 victories over No. 9 Bates and No. 10 Williams before faltering in its last match, 9-0, to No. 5 Trinity.
 
Harvard then wraps up the weekend with a noon Sunday visit, following Friday night matches at Columbia. The Crimson women (10-0, 3-0) are ranked No. 1 with a perfect start to the season following a loss to Yale in last season's national championship tilt. Harvard has won all 17 matches against Cornell in the all-time series.
 
Harvard's men's team (11-2, 2-1) has a similarly dominating edge in the all-time series with a 41-2 advantage, but the Big Red's two victories have come in the squads' last two meetings at Belkin — Dec. 6, 2008 and Dec. 4, 2010. The Crimson's two losses this year have come against No. 3 Princeton and No. 2 Trinity.