ITHACA, N.Y. — The No. 8-ranked Cornell women's squash team (3-1) returns to action for the first time since Dec. 8, when it opens Ivy League play this weekend at the Belkin Squash Courts when it welcomes No. 11-ranked Dartmouth (2-2) and top-ranked Harvard (3-0).

The Big Red will first square off against Dartmouth on Saturday, Jan. 11, with matches tentatively scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. On Sunday, Cornell will go up against Harvard with an anticipated start time of 12:30 p.m. Both matches will be streamed live free of charge on Stretch Internet.

A win over Dartmouth on Saturday would be the Big Red's first time winning its Ivy League opener since defeating Brown, 9-0, on Nov. 20, 2022. Should Cornell register a weekend sweep of its New England rivals, it would be Cornell's first 2-0 start in conference play since 2022-23.

Sophomore Xin Ying Yee (No. 1) and freshman Sabine Ball (No. 7) are the lone Big Red players to have 4-0 records on the season. Juniors Aishwarya Khubchandani (No. 2), Alysa Ali (No. 3), sophomores Maya Voloshin (No. 6) and Saniya Jaggi (No. 8), and freshman Kahjin Yap (No. 9) all have 3-1 records and have won their last three matches.

LAST TIME OUT
Seven players posted three-game victories as the Big Red defeated No. 15-ranked Amherst, 9-0, at the Davenport Squash Center in Amherst, Mass.

Sophomore Xin Ying Yee (No. 1) and freshman Sabine Ball (No. 7) both improved to 4-0 to begin the season, two of the seven Big Red players to win in three games. Joining Yee and Ball in sweeping their opponents were juniors Aishwarya Khubchandani (No. 2) and Alysa Ali (No. 4), sophomores Maya Voloshin (No. 6) and Saniya Jaggi (No. 8), and freshman Kahjin Yap (No. 9).

Junior Ananya Dabke avenged dropping the first game to Alex Brown, 11-5, before stringing three consecutive wins together, 11-6, 11-8, 11-4, to win in four games at the No. 3 match.

Sophomore Christa Kay ensured the clean sweep for Cornell, coming back from a 2-1 deficit against Brigid Brandon in the No. 5 match. Kay won the first game, 11-5, before losing the next two games, 11-9, 11-7. The final two games favored Kay by 11-6 scores.

SCOUTING DARTMOUTH
Dartmouth enters the weekend with a 2-2 record and 0-1 mark in Ivy League play after falling to Harvard, 9-0, on Dec. 4. The Big Green's two victories have come against Georgetown, 5-4, on Nov. 16, and Amherst, 7-2, on Dec. 6, and the other defeat came in its last match against Virginia, 9-0, on Dec. 7.

Maria Ramirez Velasquez, Maya Shroff, and Kriti Muthu have posted 2-2 records on the year. Nathalie Taylor is also tied with the Big Green trio for the team lead in wins with her 2-1 record.

SERIES HISTORY AGAINST DARTMOUTH
Cornell has a slight edge over Dartmouth, 18-16, in the all-time series since the inaugural meeting between the programs on Jan. 18, 1997.

The Big Red is currently riding a four-match win streak against the Big Green and has won 16 of the last 18 meetings.

In the last matchup, Cornell registered a 9-0 victory, its first clean sweep of Dartmouth since Jan. 24, 2009, the beginning of an 11-match win streak for the Big Red.

SCOUTING HARVARD
Harvard comes into the weekend with a 3-0 record after cruising past Tufts (Nov. 17) and Dartmouth (Dec. 4) by 9-0 scores and defeating Virginia, 7-2, in its last match on Dec. 6.

The Crimson's combined 25-2 mark in individual matches is the third-best mark in the College Squash Association, only behind No. 2-ranked Trinity (36-0) and No. 4-ranked Princeton (18-0).

Saran Nghiem, Habeeba Eldefrawy, Lucie Stefanoni, Molly Stoltz, Ocean Ma, and Ella Galova all have 3-0 records on the season for the Crimson.

SERIES HISTORY AGAINST HARVARD
Harvard has won all 31 previous meetings with Cornell since the first meeting between the programs on Dec. 7, 1996.

Last year, the Big Red were swept by Harvard for the first time since Feb. 15, 2020.

In the last match at the Belkin Squash Courts, the Crimson prevailed, 6-3, as the Big Red posted had victories at the top three positions by Sivasangari Subramaniam (No. 1), Wen Li Lai (No. 2), and Aishwarya Khubchandani (No. 3). Subramaniam won in straight games while Lai and Khubchandani each won in five games.