Squash trips at tourney

Author: Simon Keyes

The Middlebury women's squash team was unable to repeat their promising NESCAC Tournament performance at this weekend's Nationals. Even with the return of two recently graduated Senior Febs, the women's team suffered multiple defeats. The Panthers were competing in the Kurtz Cup, or the B Division of Nationals, a tournament reserved for the teams ranked ninth to 16th. After losing matches to Bowdoin, Colby, and later beating Hamilton in their last match, the team finished with a12-7 record.

On Friday, the Panthers' first match against 11th ranked Bowdoin was a rematch of the first round of the NESCAC tournament. Only a week before, Bowdoin narrowly escaped with a 5-4 victory. All signs pointed to yet another exciting day of squash.

The signs were misleading however, as the Panthers stumbled through the first round match, failing to win a single match, as they lost 9-0 to the Polar Bears. It was a puzzling and frustrating first day.

Avery Tilney '09, Caroline Woodworth '09, and Elisabeth McMorris '9.5, each lost heartbreaking five game matches at the three, four, and five slots.

On Saturday, Middlebury's schedule would not relent as the women set to square off against a dangerous Colby team. The squads split the season series 1-1, with each team squeaking out 5-4 victories. After Saturday, however, the Colby Mules would own the season series after kicking the Panthers out of the courts with yet another thrilling 5-4 decision.

Senior Co-Captain Hannah Baker, playing at the one slot, and McMorris, playing at five, each won their matches 3-1. The other winners, Co-Captain Kara Zarchin '06.5, and Brooke Beatt '10 both refused to surrender a game, soundly earning 3-0 victories.

The results of the two matches were rather unlucky as all the individual games were still tight contests. "Our record this past weekend does not reflect the level of competitiveness and energy we brought to the tournament," said Zarchin. "Each match was a battle and, unfortunately, against Colby we didn't walk away with the win."

The two losses landed Middlebury in the 15th and 16th place playoff match against Hamilton. This was the first meeting between the two teams as their regular season match was whitewashed by snowfall in the upstate New York area.

Middlebury salvaged their weekend and made up for their earlier struggles by edging the Continentals 5-4. The upper tier of the ladder proved too strong for Hamilton and five of the top-six ladder spots earned wins.

The Panthers' Baker and McMorris played to 2-1 records, best on the team over the weekend.

The results at the Kurtz Cup are by no means indicative of the major progress made this season by the squad. "For the first time this year, we proved that we're contenders against teams like Bowdoin and Bates," said Zarachin. "The team is only going to get stronger over the next few years under the dynamic leadership of Coach Mike Morgan."

On another note, the squash season is not over for Baker and Sally Hatfield '09, who both qualified for the Individual Nationals Tournament, which takes place March 2 and 3 at the University of Pennsylvania.