Squash Women Turn to Rookies

Author: Ryan Reese

The winter is now upon us and, among other things, it brings to us a brand new slate of sports. One of these new cold-weather games is women's squash. Contrary to popular belief, this sport does not include acorns, gourds or any affiliation with the mushy vegetable that is commonplace on fall buffet tables. This highly energized and aerobic sport combines graceful strides and lunges, crushing volleys, strategic shot placement, and reflex times that can be measured in nanoseconds.

All of these skills are second nature to our Middlebury squad. Their collective mastery of this intense game has lead to their increasing success over the past years, culminating in a 16th place finish nationally last year. This year's team looks to expound on their success from years past and improve its record while earning a higher national ranking. Holly Haertel '05, the squad's number one player last year, said, "We're looking forward to the upcoming season, and we're hoping to improve in certain areas of our game while winning more matches and performing well on a national level." Under the leadership of senior captains Liza Franyo and Britt Cosgrove, Middlebury's squad looks to prepare itself for their always fierce NESCAC rivalries against Colby, Williams and Amherst.

Haertel also spoke on the bright prospect of the most solid team that she has ever been apart of while at Middlebury. When absent team members Lauren Smith '05, Beth Sealey '05 and Amanda Knappman '04 return next semester, there promises to be an unparalleled level of success. New up-and-comers Hannah Baker '07, Katherine Hawkins '06.5, Kate Horvitz '06.5 and Kara Zarchin '06.5 will all look to contribute and help solidify the team's future by gaining much needed experience at this difficult level of intercollegiate athletic competition.

This is only the second year in which the squash team has been able to use the college's new regulation-size squash courts. This is obviously advantageous to be able to play on the courts with the correct and specified dimensions. This has lead to far more productive practices and better results in competitive situations. Although Middlebury boasts state-of-the-art facilities, there will only be one home match this year. The Panther women will face the tough Vassar racketeers on February 8 in the Bubble.

Through hard work and dedicated preparation, the women of Middlebury look to keep opponents guessing on shot placement, force them to remain in a quandary while permanently stationed the back corners of the court and attack with a series of crushing shots that scream along the walls and high lob shots that will throw off opponents timing. The upcoming season promises the success and high level achievement that has become expected and quite commonplace across the aggregate of Middlebury athletics. The women's squash team will be no exception.