CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — For the seventh consecutive season, the women's squash team will make a bid for a national championship this weekend at the College Squash Association's Howe Cup. The Big Red enters the weekend ranked sixth, opening play against third-ranked Trinity at noon Friday.
 
Cornell (8-5) has held steady at the No. 6 spot since Feb. 25, 2012, when it used a 5-4 victory over then-No. 6 Stanford in the Howe Cup consolation semifinals to overtake the Cardinal's ranking. The Big Red has been convincing in defending that position this season, with all of its victories over teams behind it in the rankings coming by scores of 7-2, 8-1 or 9-0. In all eight of those matches, Cornell had clinched the match by the conclusion of the second rotation.
 
Once again, senior Danielle Letourneau has been the rock of the Big Red lineup this year. A three-time CSA First-Team All-American, Letourneau has a 10-3 record from the No. 1 position. That's tied for the team lead in victories with freshman Charlotte Knaggs, who has racked up a 10-4 record from the bottom third of the order — including a 7-0 mark from the No. 7 spot. Senior Lindsay Seginson and freshman Emma Uible are both 9-5 from the middle third, and senior Rachel Au, junior Reut Odinak, sophomore Rachel Scherman, and freshmen Michelè Garceau and Margaux Losty all have eight victories apiece.
 
Trinity (15-1) was the undefeated No. 1 team in the country before losing to Harvard, the new No. 1, last weekend. Because of the large margin of victory, 8-1, the Bantams slipped past Penn down to the No. 3 spot. Trinity defeated the Big Red, 9-0, on Jan. 25 at Belkin International Squash Courts in Ithaca, N.Y. A Cornell win on Friday would not only be the program's first against Trinity in 13 all-time meetings, it would also guarantee the Big Red its best season-ending national standing in program history.
 
Simultaneous to action between Cornell and Trinity, No. 4 Princeton and No. 5 Yale will clash on three of the other courts at Murr Center. The second wave of quarterfinals will follow those two matches at 2:15 p.m., pitting No. 1 Harvard against No. 8 George Washington and No. 2 Penn against No. 7 Columbia.
 
The winner of the Cornell-Trinity match will then take on the winner of the Penn-Columbia match at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, while the losers will meet in a consolation semifinal at 4 p.m. Saturday. All four placement matches will take place Sunday.
 
Cornell has never won a Howe Cup quarterfinal in program history. The Big Red's best finish was in 2001, when it placed fifth following consolation bracket victories over Brown and Dartmouth. Cornell has finished sixth in 2009, 2012, 2013 and 2014, and seventh in 2010 and 2011.
 
Matches of this year's Howe Cup will be broadcast on the Ivy League Digital Network throughout the weekend. For more information, click here.