Princeton University Athletics
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/ Women's Squash
/ Women's Squash
/ Women's Squash
/ Women's Squash
/ Women's Squash
/ Women's Squash
/ Women's Squash
/ Women's Squash
/ Women's Squash
/ Women's Squash
Top-Ranked Women's Squash Looks To Complete Perfect Season With National Title
February 15, 2007 | Women's Squash
A championship that once seemed to be housed permanently in Princeton has been gone far too long. The Howe Cup, given to the winner of the national team tournament in women's squash, lived in Princeton for 10 out of the championship's first 12 years. The Tigers won it 14 times overall, most recently in 1999, but they have been shut out this century. A hungry senior class and a remarkable depth of talented players hope to end that drought this weekend, as the top-ranked Tigers stand three wins away from a national championship.
Princeton enters the Howe Cup, held in New Haven, Conn., this weekend, with an 8-0 record, including a 6-0 mark to win the Ivy League title. The Tigers, who moved from No. 5 to No. 1 in the national rankings by sweeping the top three teams in the country during a six-day span, will open the championships Friday at 10 a.m. on Courts 8-10 against eighth-seeded Brown. Instead of playing two sessions, with the even matches first, each match of the Howe Cup will be played in a three-session format. Matches 3, 6, 9 will be played first, followed by 2, 5 and 8, and then 1, 4 and 7.
Princeton defeated Brown 9-0 earlier in the season and didn't drop a single game in any match. Once Friday's quarterfinals conclude, Princeton will have to defeat two top-notch rivals to hoist the Howe Cup.
Saturday's 2 p.m. semifinal, which will be held on Courts 1, 14 and 15, would pit Princeton against one of the last five national team champions. Fourth-seeded Trinity, the 2002 and 2003 champs, will face host and three-time defending champion Yale in the most compelling of the four quarterfinal matches. Princeton owns 6-3 wins over both teams (Trinity at home, Yale on the road).
Should Princeton reach Sunday's championship final, it would likely play either No. 2 Penn or No. 3 Harvard on Courts 1-3 at 2 p.m. Princeton owns 7-2 wins over both teams, although both matches were held at the Jadwin Squash Courts. Penn topped Harvard 6-3 in the lone meeting between the two teams.
The Tigers won't deviate from the lineup that has been so successful in recent weeks. The top four will consist of two seniors, No. 1 Claire Rein-Weston and No. 4 Gen Lessard, and two freshmen, No. 2 Neha Kumar and No. 3 Amanda Siebert. Each has come up with critical wins against top-five opponents, including a dramatic five-game comeback win for Lessard against Trinity and a 3-1 win for Rein-Weston against Penn.
Of course, if none of them win a single match this weekend, and that is highly unlikely, Princeton would still have a very good chance to win the national championship. The Tigers own the premier 5-9 group in the country, as evidenced by its 38-2 record on the season.
Seniors Ali Pearson (No. 5) and Marilla Hiltz (No. 7) have played near the top of the lineup throughout their career and have been dominant in their current positions. Pearson, a former GoPrincetonTigers.com Athlete of the Week, has won 15 straight games over the period of five matches.
Junior Casey Riley, undefeated at No. 6 this season, played most of last season at No. 2 after missing her freshman season due to injury. She even played No. 1 during the 2006 Howe Cup when Rein-Weston was too ill to play, and that big-match experience will serve her well this weekend.
Classmate Carly Grabowski suffered one of the two losses this season, which made news only because it was her first regular season dual-match loss in three years. Any confidence questions were answered with a dominant effort last weekend in a 3-0 win over Harvard when she dropped only five points.
Freshman Kaitlin Sennatt has run with the No. 9 spot this season. She carries a perfect record into the Howe Cup weekend, and she has yet to drop a single game on the season.
Should anybody get injured during the weekend, sophomore Maggie O'Toole, currently the No. 10 player on Princeton's ladder, would move into the varsity lineup.
The full draw can be seen by clicking on the link above, and GoPrincetonTigers.com will have daily updates on the weekend, beginning with Friday's match against Brown.
Princeton enters the Howe Cup, held in New Haven, Conn., this weekend, with an 8-0 record, including a 6-0 mark to win the Ivy League title. The Tigers, who moved from No. 5 to No. 1 in the national rankings by sweeping the top three teams in the country during a six-day span, will open the championships Friday at 10 a.m. on Courts 8-10 against eighth-seeded Brown. Instead of playing two sessions, with the even matches first, each match of the Howe Cup will be played in a three-session format. Matches 3, 6, 9 will be played first, followed by 2, 5 and 8, and then 1, 4 and 7.
Princeton defeated Brown 9-0 earlier in the season and didn't drop a single game in any match. Once Friday's quarterfinals conclude, Princeton will have to defeat two top-notch rivals to hoist the Howe Cup.
Saturday's 2 p.m. semifinal, which will be held on Courts 1, 14 and 15, would pit Princeton against one of the last five national team champions. Fourth-seeded Trinity, the 2002 and 2003 champs, will face host and three-time defending champion Yale in the most compelling of the four quarterfinal matches. Princeton owns 6-3 wins over both teams (Trinity at home, Yale on the road).
Should Princeton reach Sunday's championship final, it would likely play either No. 2 Penn or No. 3 Harvard on Courts 1-3 at 2 p.m. Princeton owns 7-2 wins over both teams, although both matches were held at the Jadwin Squash Courts. Penn topped Harvard 6-3 in the lone meeting between the two teams.
The Tigers won't deviate from the lineup that has been so successful in recent weeks. The top four will consist of two seniors, No. 1 Claire Rein-Weston and No. 4 Gen Lessard, and two freshmen, No. 2 Neha Kumar and No. 3 Amanda Siebert. Each has come up with critical wins against top-five opponents, including a dramatic five-game comeback win for Lessard against Trinity and a 3-1 win for Rein-Weston against Penn.
Of course, if none of them win a single match this weekend, and that is highly unlikely, Princeton would still have a very good chance to win the national championship. The Tigers own the premier 5-9 group in the country, as evidenced by its 38-2 record on the season.
Seniors Ali Pearson (No. 5) and Marilla Hiltz (No. 7) have played near the top of the lineup throughout their career and have been dominant in their current positions. Pearson, a former GoPrincetonTigers.com Athlete of the Week, has won 15 straight games over the period of five matches.
Junior Casey Riley, undefeated at No. 6 this season, played most of last season at No. 2 after missing her freshman season due to injury. She even played No. 1 during the 2006 Howe Cup when Rein-Weston was too ill to play, and that big-match experience will serve her well this weekend.
Classmate Carly Grabowski suffered one of the two losses this season, which made news only because it was her first regular season dual-match loss in three years. Any confidence questions were answered with a dominant effort last weekend in a 3-0 win over Harvard when she dropped only five points.
Freshman Kaitlin Sennatt has run with the No. 9 spot this season. She carries a perfect record into the Howe Cup weekend, and she has yet to drop a single game on the season.
Should anybody get injured during the weekend, sophomore Maggie O'Toole, currently the No. 10 player on Princeton's ladder, would move into the varsity lineup.
The full draw can be seen by clicking on the link above, and GoPrincetonTigers.com will have daily updates on the weekend, beginning with Friday's match against Brown.
Tuesday, June 04
Wednesday, June 22
Monday, June 06
Tuesday, March 01