ITHACA, N.Y. — The men's and women's squash teams return to Ivy League play this weekend, traveling to meet Harvard at noon Saturday and Dartmouth at noon Sunday.
The Cornell women's team (7-2, 2-1 Ivy League) won two of three non-league matches last weekend, easily defeating St. Lawrence and Drexel before falling to one of the nation's top teams in Trinity. The Big Red remains ranked sixth in the country by the College Squash Association, led by three-time All-American
Danielle Letourneau. From the top spot in the lineup, Letourneau has a team-best 7-1 record, matched by only fellow co-captain
Reut Odinak from the bottom two spots in the order.
The Big Red starts off against Harvard (4-1, 2-1). The Crimson has won all 20 matches against the Big Red in the programs' history, including an 8-1 decision last season in Ithaca. After finishing second in the Howe Cup to end last season, Harvard was ranked No. 1 in the country this season until a 5-4 loss to Penn on Jan. 11. The Crimson now holds down the No. 3 ranking, spearheaded by three-time Ivy League Player of the Year Amanda Sobhy and her 50-0 career record.
Up next is a trip to Dartmouth (4-4, 0-3), which will be looking to break Cornell's seven-match winning streak in the all-time series. The Big Green moved up three spots in the national rankings to seventh after topping then-No. 7 Stanford and No. 8 George Washington two weeks ago. Dartmouth is 0-15 from the top two spots in the order. Rebecca Brownell and Zainab Molani are tied for the team lead with 5-3 record from the middle to lower portions of the order.
On the men's side, seventh-ranked Cornell (5-4, 1-2) is coming off a busy weekend in which it secured a victory over Drexel in between 8-1 losses to the nation's top two teams, Trinity and St. Lawrence. Senior
Aditya Jagtap is a team-best 7-1 from the No. 1 position, and co-captain
Graham Dietz ranks second on the squad with six individual victories.
Harvard (4-2, 3-0) is the defending national champion after going 18-0 last season, but the Crimson has fallen to sixth in the country after consecutive December losses to St. Lawrence and Rochester. Freshman Madhav Dhingra is Harvard's new No. 1, playing to a 2-4 record early on, while freshman Bradley Smith is 5-1 from the next two spots in the order. Senior Tyler Olson is a perfect 6-0 from positions 6, 7 and 8. Harvard leads the all-time series against Cornell, 45-2, including an 8-1 decision last year in Ithaca. The Big Red has never defeated the Crimson in Cambridge, Mass.
Dartmouth (3-5, 0-3) is ranked 11th in the nation after breaking a three-match losing streak with a 7-2 victory over Bates last Sunday. The Big Red is 9-14 all-time against the Big Green, but that includes eight consecutive wins. Cornell won last year's meeting in Ithaca, 7-2. The Big Green is 1-15 from the top two spots, and Joshua Renaud is 4-0 from the bottom two positions.
