CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — For the 10th consecutive season, the women's squash team will make a bid for a national championship at the College Squash Association's Howe Cup. The Big Red enters the event held Friday through Sunday at Murr Center ranked eighth, opening play against three-time defending national champion and host Harvard at 4 p.m. Friday.
 
Cornell (10-6) enters the championships on a three-match losing streak against three of the other top programs in the country, most recently being defeated by #2 Princeton Sunday. The Big Red took three points against #7 Penn on Friday, coming from the bottom third of the order – sophomore Lucy Martin (No. 7), junior Lauren Leizman (No. 8) and junior Hannah Scherl (No. 9).
 
Martin continues to lead the team in victories with an 11-5 record during the regular season, with Leizman close behind at 10-5. The senior trio of Michèle Garceau, Margaux Losty and Emma Ubile compete from the top third.
 
The Big Red finished seventh in each of the last two Howe Cups — the CSA's 'A' Division national championship — after finishing sixth in the four seasons prior. Cornell then started this season ranked eighth by the CSA, retaining that position throughout the year.
 
Harvard (12-0) is a heavy favorite to capture its 18th Howe Cup title this weeknd, currently riding a 50-math winning streak. The Crimson has outscored its opposition by a 104-4 margin this season. Cornell has never defeated Harvard in 25 all-time meetings between the programs, including the Crimson's 9-0 victory Jan. 13 in Ithaca.
 
One of the Howe Cup's other quarterfinals — second-ranked Princeton vs. No. 7 Penn — will run simultaneously to the Big Red's opening match on Friday. The other debut matchups, No. 4 Stanford vs. No. 5 Yale and No. 3 Trinity vs. No. 6 Columbia, will precede with start times of 1:30 p.m.
 
The winner of the Cornell-Harvard match will then take on the winner of the Stanford-Yale match at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, while the losers will meet in a consolation semifinal at 11:30 a.m. Saturday. All four placement matches will be staged at Murr Center on Sunday — seventh-place match at 9 a.m., fifth-place match at 11:30 p.m., the third-place match at 2 p.m. and the championship at 2:30 p.m.
 
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.
 
All of the Howe Cup's matches on Friday and Saturday, as well as Sunday's championship match, will be broadcast on subscription-based Ivy League Network.