No. 3 women's squash faces three top-10 juggernauts

Princeton (7-1 overall, 5-1 Ivy League) sits No. 3 in the nation and No. 2 in the Ivy League.

The Tigers experienced great success last weekend with an 8-1 squashing of Dartmouth and an amazing 5-4 upset over a daunting Harvard squad.

"It was such a big win," freshman No. 6 Marilla Hiltz said. "Regardless of how the season ends, we will be celebrating that for a long time."

Coming into the weekend with only one loss so far, Princeton hopes to retain hold of its No. 3 status and head into the weekend strong off its recent victories.

The Tigers will be traveling to Hartford, Conn. to take on No. 1 Trinity on Saturday and Amherst and Williams on Sunday.

The Bantams are currently No. 1 in the country. They are two-time defending national champions and are led by the No. 2 squash player in the country, Amina Helal. Helal is two-time defending individual national champion and has served as No. 1 for Trinity for the last four years in a row.

"Trinity is going to be extremely hard," Hiltz said. "Some people are injured, so a couple people might not be playing."

And despite Trinity's experience and skill, the Bantams have already shown a crack in their armor earlier in the season when they lost to Yale, 5-4, their first loss in over 30 consecutive wins. The Elis also handed the Tigers their only defeat of the season thus far with an 8-1 trouncing.

Amherst and Williams should not be a threat to Princeton, but neither can they be brushed aside, especially in light of recent injuries on the team.

Junior Francie Comey hurt her back, freshman Ali Pearson pulled a hamstring and Hiltz, too, strained a rotator cuff but will still play.

Williams is No. 7 in the country, only one below where the Tigers formerly sat at No. 6. Princeton's upset of Harvard to leap three spots should serve as a reminder to the Tigers that they too can be unseated if they become complacent.

"With a full lineup [these games] would not be hard at all," Hiltz said. "It will be a lot closer than what it would normally be."

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Amherst is on the move already, going from No. 12 to No. 10 and eager to take its success all the way up the food chain.

Another important game to watch this weekend is the Harvard/Yale game going on that same Saturday. If Harvard (5-2, 4-1) defeats Yale (9-0, 4-0) as it was predicted to in the preseason, the Tigers will find themselves in a three-way tie for a share of the Ivy crown with both teams.

But the Elis are having one of their best seasons in history and are certainly better than anyone expected.

Despite a No. 3 predicted finish behind Trinity and Harvard, Yale has already defeated both teams so far this season. The Bulldogs defeated Harvard in the unranked Ivy League scrimmages earlier this November and pulled an incredible 5-4 upset over the reigning national champions, Trinity, in the regular season at their homecourts Jan. 21. The silver lining for Trinity: they are the only team to win an individual match against Yale this season.

But none of this will concern Princeton this weekend when it takes on the best team in the nation. Where Harvard and Yale end up matters little in the grand scheme of things.