Women’s squash defends national ranking during home weekend

Women’s squash has had its ups and downs this season, but the team was able to bounce back over the holiday weekend, going 2–1 on its home courts. 

The strong performance began on Thursday, Jan. 16 when the Panthers fed off of the energetic crowds that filed in behind them to sweep #16 Amherst. Confident after such a decisive win, the women eased past #18 Franklin and Marshall on Saturday, Jan. 18 with a 9–0 finish, giving the Diplomats only a single game throughout the entire contest. Unfortunately, Middlebury was unable to extend its winning streak as it could not find a way past #12 Brown on Sunday, Jan. 19. Strong play from three Panthers helped decrease the margin to 6–3. Holding the second spot in the lineup, Virginia Schaus ’21 stole a match from the Bears without dropping a game. Her win was followed by teammate Annie Glassie ’20 who snatched the win in a nail-biting five game match in the eighth slot. The third victory came from fellow senior Mira Chugh ’20 who closed out her contest in four games in the ninth position. 

Glassie commented on the strong weekend. “We definitely felt good about our performance this weekend, beating Amherst and F&M 9–0 showed everyone’s focus and commitment,” said Glassie. “Our match with Brown was closer this time than it has been in the past, and I think everyone fought really hard and we never gave up. I think for this upcoming weekend we want to build on the momentum from brown and continue to bring the same level of energy and focus to Bates. Bates is a good team and one that we have always had tight matches with so it’s good that we are coming out of a successful weekend and everyone is fired up!”

The Panthers, now with a 3–4 record, will use this week to prepare for their triple header that kicks off on Thursday, Jan. 23 on the road against Bates. The women will move on to face Bowdoin and Colby on Friday, Jan. 24 and Saturday, Jan. 25 respectively.