ITHACA, N.Y. — The No. 8-ranked Cornell women's squash team will begin its 2024-25 season this weekend when it welcomes No. 5-ranked Stanford and No. 14-ranked Williams to the Belkin Squash Courts.

Cornell will face Stanford on Friday, Nov. 22, at 3 p.m. and will face Williams on Sunday, Nov. 24, at noon. Both matches will be streamed live on Stretch Internet.

The Big Red is coming off an 8-10 campaign last year, which included a 1-5 mark in Ivy League play.

Like the men's team, Cornell will seek its replacement for the top position on the ladder after Wen Li Lai went 13-7 in her lone year at the No. 1 position following Sivasangari Subramaniam's four-year reign at Cornell's top spot in the lineup.

The Big Red returns four players from last year's squad who won 10-plus matches in juniors Alysa Ali (13-7) and Aishwarya Khubchandani (11-10) and sophomores Saniya Jaggi (12-6) and Maya Voloshin (10-7).

SCOUTING STANFORD
Stanford will also open its 2024-25 season this weekend. It will face Cornell and Williams in Ithaca on Friday and Saturday before heading to New York City for a match with Columbia on Sunday.

The Cardinal posted a 9-5 campaign last year and won its first-ever Mid-Atlantic Squash Conference title after defeating Dickinson (9-0), Drexel (5-4), and Virginia (7-2) to hoist the Gaynor Cup.

Cornell owns a slight 12-11 edge in the series and is 4-0 all-time at home against the Cardinal, who have won eight of the last nine meetings.

Last year, Stanford posted a 7-2 victory in Hartford, Conn., on Jan. 14. Ali and Jaggi each registered three-game victories.

SCOUTING WILLIAMS
Williams will also open its regular-season slate this weekend when it faces Stanford (Saturday) and Cornell (Sunday).

The Ephs posted an 11-11 overall record last year and went 5-3 in New England Small Colleges Athletic Conference (NESCAC) play. Williams fell to top-ranked Trinity, 9-0, in the NESCAC semifinals before losing to Georgetown, 7-2, in the Kurtz Cup Final at the CSA National Championships.

The Big Red opened last season with an 8-1 victory on the Ephs' home court, highlighted by straight-game victories by Lai (No. 1), Khubchandani (No. 2), Ali (No. 4), Ania LaDow (No. 6), Voloshin (No. 7), Jaggi (No. 8), and Kacey Mollenkopf (No. 9).

Recently, Cornell has had the upper hand in the series against Williams, claiming the last 13 matches against the Ephs. Eight of Cornell's last 10 victories over Williams have been by 9-0 decisions.