ITHACA, N.Y. — The men's squash team will jockey for national when it hosts a three-match weekend at Belkin International Squash Courts. The Big Red will take on Drexel at 2 p.m. Friday, then compete in a Saturday doubleheader vs. top-ranked Trinity at noon and George Washington at 3:30 p.m.
Cornell (5-2) is coming off a day-night doubleheader of non-league matches on Wednesday, sweeping Hobart in the afternoon in Geneva before trekking west to Rochester later that night and suffering a 9-0 loss to third-ranked Rochester.
Those results likely will not have any bearing on the Big Red's national standing, which is 10th in the most recent College Squash Association rankings from Jan. 8. Cornell hasn't moved from that position since finishing second last season in the finals of the Hoehn Cup (the 'B' division of the CSA's national championships; for teams ranked ninth through 16th).
The team that defeated the Big Red in that match was Drexel, which has since posted a 6-3 to start this year. On the weight of a 5-4 victory over Penn on Nov. 30, the Dragons have moved up to sixth in the national rankings. Cornell won its first three matches against Drexel since its program's inception six years ago, but the Dragons won by margins of 6-3 and 5-4 in two meetings last season.
Trinity (10-0), which opens its weekend Saturday afternoon at Rochester, is the resounding top-ranked team in the nation after a 9-0 blanking of second-ranked Yale on Wednesday. Cornell is 4-26 all-time against Trinity, with its last victory against the perennial power coming Feb. 9, 1991.
George Washington (3-4) was last ranked 12th by the CSA, though it could slide after Wednesday's 5-4 loss to No. 15 Navy. All of the Colonials' points in that match came from the top four spots in the order. The Big Red split two matches with GW last season, first losing 5-4 during the regular season before rebounding with a 6-3 victory in the Hoehn Cup semifinals. Those results bring the all-time series to a 4-1 lead for the Big Red.
All three matches are free and open to the public.
