The men's and women's squash teams have similar mentalities heading into the weekend: Every match matters. While the women's team will host an extra day of matches — playing Columbia tonight — both squads know they need to come out on top to start their seasons on positive notes.
Both teams will play Franklin & Marshall on Saturday and Cornell on Sunday.
“Our first weekend is a big weekend because we really need to beat Cornell to win the Ivy league,” senior captain Dave Letourneau said. “We need to win all the matches to win the Ivy League.”
The No. 3 men are currently hobbled by injuries and hope that juniors Chris Callis and Kelly Shannon, who are frequently injured, will return to the courts this weekend. The men scrimmaged Cornell this weekend, mostly coming out on top even without defending sophomore Todd Harrity, last season's Ivy League Rookie of the Year, who is slated to return this weekend.
The Diplomats will also pose a tough challenge, the team explained. "Franklin and Marshall is a really good team, they've had a few good recruits the last couple of years," Letourneau said. "Every single match counts. We really only play every team once. That makes it much more important."
"Franklin & Marshall is on the rise because they have a new recruiting pipeline from Latin America, and their coach is the former No. 1 in the world," senior co-captain Peter Sopher noted.
The team will then kick off its Ivy season against Cornell, a particularly difficult challenger. "With Cornell, we match up really well through every position," Letourneau explained of the team the Tigers dispatched easily last year, 6-3.
The No. 4 women's team will face less of a challenge this weekend, having topped the Big Red in last weekend's scrimmage, 8-1. Still, this weekend will determine the pace of the season for the squad, which lost five seniors to graduation last year and will rely heavily on freshman contributors.
“We definitely want to come out strong and start the season well," freshman Lexi Saunders said. "It is the opening to our season, so everyone is excited to play."
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