ITHACA, N.Y. – The women's squash team will attempt to make one last push before the end of the regular season when it travels to Philadelphia for a match against Penn at 4 p.m. Friday, then returns home for the Senior Day doubleheader on Sunday against Princeton at noon and St. Lawrence at 5 p.m.
Cornell (4-8, 1-4 Ivy League) moved up one spot to 11th in the Dunlop College Squash Rankings as this week, having now won three of its last four matches. On Saturday, the Big Red topped then-No. 11 Brown, 6-3, before being handed an 8-1 defeat by current No. 4 Yale the next day.
Since her mid-season arrival, freshman Siva Subramaniam is a perfect 4-0 from the No. 1 position. Her most victory came against Yale's Lucy Beecroft, a two-time selection to the College Squash Association's All-America first team. Senior
Hannah Scherl had won four straight at No. 8 before Sunday's match against Yale.
The match against sixth-ranked Penn (8-4, 2-3) will be held at Drexel's Kline & Specter Squash Center while the Quakers' home facility undergoes renovations. Penn split its Ivy League matches last weekend, defeating ninth-ranked Dartmouth on Saturday, 6-3, then suffering a 9-0 loss to next day to No. 3 Harvard. Defending CSA national individual champion Raheem Salah headlines the Quakers' lineup, having won 31 straight matches until falling in four to Harvard's Sabrina Sobhy on Sunday. Jessica Davis (No. 2) and Jamila Tamer (No. 3) typically round out the showcase court trio. Cornell is 2-27 all-time against the Quakers, including a 6-3 loss last year in Ithaca.
On Sunday, the Big Red will play a pair of matches after a Senior Day ceremony to commemorate the final home matches in the collegiate careers of
Lauren Leizman,
Nghi Nguyen and
Hannah Scherl. The day starts against Princeton (11-1, 4-1), which had ascended to No. 1 in the rankings – though slid to No. 2 after a 9-0 loss to Harvard on Saturday. Samantha Chai (No. 5), Andrea Toth (No. 7) and Isabel Hirshberg (No. 9) were all undefeated until the match the Crimson. Cornell has never defeated Princeton in 26 all-time meetings, with the Tigers winning last year's match, 9-0, in New Jersey.
Cornell's regular season concludes with a match against St. Lawrence, which is coached by former Big Red assistant coach Scott Denne. The Saints (4-6) are ranked 23rd after winning their second straight Liberty League Tournament title last weekend. Cornell is 9-0 all-time against St. Lawrence, with the most recent meeting coming in 2016.
