Squash Splits at Williams Matches

Author: Alison Hertel
Staff Writer

The Middlebury women's squash team came back from winter break and headed to the Williams Invitational Tournament where they came out with a mixed result, 2-2.

On Friday, Jan. 11, Middlebury beat Mt. Holyoke College 9-0 and Bowdoin College 5-4. Amanda Knappman '04 said, "I thought our match against Bowdoin was extremely pleasing and promising. It was very close, but I think it was played very competitively throughout the entire ladder." Coach David Saward said of the match, "Beating Bowdoin was a very good win for the team, as it has been at least five years since we beat them." Co-captain Ellie Toan '02 added, "They're always at the very top of our league."

Unfortunately Saturday did not go as well for the squad. Middlebury lost to Williams 0-9 and Amherst 2-7. The Panthers were not the only team to fall to Williams who went undefeated in the tournament. Against Williams, all the Middlebury players lost their matches in three games, with the exception of the number two player Holly Haertel '05 who pushed her match against Clare Whipple to four games. Coach Saward commented that Haertel performed well all weekend.

The Amherst match was Middlebury's last of the weekend and Amherst's first. A tired team fought hard, and the match ended closer than the score indicated. Coach Saward said, "Although the Amherst match was a 2-7 loss, we were very close in three of the individual matches, as Ellie Toan lost in five sets as did Liza Franyo," '04.

Saward particularly praised the play of two players over the course of the weekend, Lauren Smith '05, in the number seven position, and Britt Cosgrove '04, in the number eight position, who both went 3-1 on the weekend, losing only to their opponents from Williams.

So far Middlebury is 5-3 in the season heading into this weekend's Amherst Invitational Tournament. The Panthers will have the chance to face Amherst again and hopes to have a different result this time. Toan said, "We were tired by the time we played Amherst, and we had a lot of close matches. So we hope to do better this weekend." Along those lines Knappman added, "I think we are all looking forward to this weekend when we will have another chance to prove our depth and strength to the Amherst team."

The road ahead includes matches against Franklin and Marshall with a tough challenge at Colby as well.