Princeton University Athletics
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Women's Squash Seeks Second Straight National Crown As Princeton Hosts 2008 Howe Cup
February 21, 2008 | Women's Squash
The Princeton women's squash team completed a perfect 2007 season with a Howe Cup national championship. The 2008 season hasn't been perfect, but it doesn't mean the second-seeded Tigers aren't shooting for the same ending. The Jadwin Squash Courts will play host to the 2008 Howe Cup championships, where Princeton will look for three teams wins and a second straight championship.
The Tigers are 8-2 on the season and lost only a pair of 5-4 road matches, a Jan. 30 match at Penn and a Feb. 17 match at Trinity. If all goes well, Princeton will likely have the chance to avenge one of those matches in the national final. Both top-seeded Penn and fourth-seeded Trinity are on the top half of the bracket, along with 2007 finalist and fifth-seeded Harvard and eighth-seeded Stanford.
Princeton will play with the following lineup: 1) Amanda Siebert; 2) Neha Kumar; 3) Jackie Moss; 4) Emery Maine; 5) Casey Riley; 6) Kaitlin Sennatt; 7) Carly Grabowski; 8) Maggie O'Toole and 9) Margaret Kent. Junior Aly Brady would be Princeton's first replacement if anybody gets injured.
The Tigers will open the Howe Cup Friday at noon against seventh-seeded Brown on Jadwin Courts 1-3. Princeton defeated Brown 9-0 early in the season and didn't drop a single game in the match.
If form holds in the quarterfinals, Princeton will take on third-seeded Yale at 2 p.m. on Jadwin Courts 1-3. Princeton won the regular season matchup 6-3 on Feb. 2, although the Tigers won two of those matches in five games. There would be five different matchups in the Howe Cup semifinal, as the combinations of Riley/Sennatt and Grabowski/O'Toole were switched in the regular season, and Yale's No. 8 and No. 9 players have rotated. Of the four matches that are the same, Yale won the top three and Maine won the No. 4 match in five tight games.
That second semifinal would follow the 11:30 matchup between the Penn-Stanford winner and the Trinity-Harvard winner. Penn is the overall favorite after completing a perfect regular season. Should Penn and Princeton make the 2 p.m. Sunday final, there would be four different matches from the first meeting (Penn will use the same lineup, barring injury). Of the five same match-ups, Penn won three and lost two; three of the matches went five games, including two Quaker victories. If Trinity can upset Penn, the Bantam lineup would only feature changes at the top two spots, where Princeton pulled off a pair of tight wins last weekend.
There is no charge for the Howe Cup, which will feature 38 teams and five divisions. Matches will be played in either Jadwin Gym or Dillon Gym. The full draw can be found by clicking on the link above. Also, Princeton's matches on Court 1 are scheduled to be streamed live on TigerZone.