The 2022 College Squash Association (CSA) National Collegiate Women’s Team Championships are scheduled to begin tomorrow, Friday, Friday 25, 2022. The top three divisions made up of teams ranked 1-24 will be played at Harvard University’s Murr Center, while teams ranked 25-32 will play their matches at Tufts University’s Tisch Sports & Fitness Center on Friday and Saturday.
Fans of the event should visit the Tournament Homepage for important information, including the draws with live scoring, links to the live streams, and the order of play during the weekend. The live stream links will be active beginning on Friday morning.
32 varsity teams will compete across four divisions: Howe Division (teams ranked No. 1-8)—which determines the team national champion, Kurtz Division (9-16), Walker Division (17-24), and Epps Division (25-32).
Howe Cup (National Championship)
Overall No. 1 seed Harvard University takes to their home courts this weekend in search of their seventh straight Howe Cup (National Collegiate Women’s Team Championship). The Crimson once again completed the regular season without a loss, claiming their sixth straight Ivy League title and running up their winning streak to 95 straight matches. Harvard’s first round opponent is No. 8 seed Penn, who worked their way into the Howe Division with a late-season win over Cornell.
The winner of the 1-versus-8 matchup will face off with the Columbia-Yale winner in Saturday’s semifinal. Columbia and Yale ended up tied in the rankings at the end of the season, but Columbia gets the higher seed based on their 6-3 head-to-head win over Yale during the season.
The Mid-Atlantic Squash Conference has two teams in the Howe Division for the first time ever, including debutants Virginia as the seventh seed. Drexel is the 6-seed, and both teams will be on the hunt for an upset over higher seeds Trinity (No. 2) and Princeton (No. 3). Trinity and Virginia did not meet this season, but Drexel almost stole one from Princeton during the last week of the regular season, losing 5-4 at home.
No. 9-ranked and Kurtz Cup top seed Cornell comes in as the heavy favorites in a draw that features some new faces this year. Cornell’s first round opponent, Bowdoin, has risen to 16th in the country from a 34th-place finish only three years ago. Tufts and Williams rekindle their rivalry in the other quarterfinal on the top half of the bracket after a tight 5-4 Tufts win in the NESCAC Championships two weeks ago.
Dartmouth leads the way in the bottom half of the draw as the second seed, and they will meet seventh-seeded Bates, who continues their steady improvement year over year. The winner of that match earns a date with the Brown-Amherst winner from the 3-versus-6 contest. None of these teams met during the regular season.
Almost every team in the Walker Cup has faced some adversity this season, whether from COVID-19 or other circumstances, meaning the division championship could be up for grabs. Franklin & Marshall claims the top seed, but they lost to fifth-seeded Dickinson late in the regular season. Liberty League foes St. Lawrence and William Smith and NESCAC rivals Middlebury, Hamilton, and Wesleyan will all see if they can work their way into the final match on Championship Sunday.
Georgetown University, in their first Women’s Team Championships as a varsity team, carries the top seed into Epps Cup play and will be the heavy favorites to bring home the hardware after overcoming other division entrants during the season. Their top competitor will likely be Colby, led by the strength at the top of their ladder and eager to continue their improvement. Rivals Conn College (3 seed) and Mount Holyoke (6) along with Haverford (4) and Vassar (5) meet in the first round, while Denison and Chatham also make their debuts in varsity team championship play.
For more tournament coverage visit collegesquash.com.
