The women’s squash team will travel to Princeton to face eight rival teams in the College Squash Association’s Team Championships this weekend.

The Eli women (15–3, 5–2 Ivy) will play in the CSA’s A Division, battling for the Howe Cup. Yale is currently ranked No. 4 behind Harvard, Trinity and Penn. The remaining four competing teams are Princeton, Cornell, Stanford and Dartmouth. Yale’s first match will be against No. 5 Princeton.

“We’re entering the weekend with no expectations,” captain Lilly Fast ’14 said. “But we’re ready to push ourselves as hard as we can.”

This season, Yale’s three losses were to Harvard, Trinity and Penn. The Trinity and Penn matches were especially close, with the Bulldogs falling 5–4 both times.

Yale’s first round matchup against Princeton comes on the heels of a close catch against the Tigers. Yale beat Princeton 5–4, unseating the Tigers from the No. 4 rank to No. 5.

According to Fast, the team is excited to meet Princeton again on Friday. In their last meeting, Fast was defeated at the sixth spot by her opponent.

“This is the culmination of all the hard work we put in this season so we’re excited to get out there and play aggressively,” she said.

If Yale bests Princeton, the Bulldogs will advance to play the winner of the match between No. 1 Harvard and No. 8 Dartmouth.

Shihui Mao ’15 said she believes Yale can bring the Howe Cup home based on past matches. She added that Princeton will be a tough opponent.

“Obviously the other teams are really strong,” she said. “Regardless, the team has trained hard the whole season, and we really hope to do well this weekend for our coaches, for ourselves and for Yale.”

Mao will play at the third position for the Bulldogs. She swept her Princeton opponent 3–0 when the teams met earlier this season.

According to Mao’s sister Shiyuan Mao ’17, the team is confident and excited to be going back to play Princeton after winning on those courts two weeks ago.

The Elis will be playing on wall courts this weekend instead of the glass courts at Paine Whitney Gym’s Brady Squash Center.

ERICA PANDEY