The Middlebury College women’s squash team finished in 13th place at the College Squash Association (CSA) National Championships played at Princeton University and The Lawrenceville School in New Jersey last weekend. Seeded 10th at the tournament’s outset, the Panthers competed for the Kurtz Cup, or the B-Flight, with ninth place as the top prize.
In the first round, Middlebury faced 15th-seeded Mount Holyoke College in a rematch of a January competition the Panthers won 7-2. Favorites to challenge Brown University for the Kurtz Cup championship, the Middlebury women suffered an upset loss to the Lyons, 6-3. Mount Holyoke won matches at the top six positions, foiling the Panthers’ dreams of a division championship.
“It was a disappointing loss because from there the best we could do was 13th overall,” said co-captain Kathryn Bostwick ’12. “Mount Holyoke played very well on that day; we had an entire season filled with a lot of great wins. They played great though. There were a lot of close matches; definitely a difficult loss.”
In a season, which Middlebury often played the role of the underdog, the Panthers’ found themselves in an uncomfortable and unexpected situation following the loss on Friday evening. Although Middlebury’s numbers seven through nine all recorded wins, three tough losses in five games at numbers one, two and six undid the team’s best-laid plans. Lindsay Becker ’13 lost her match 13-11 in the fifth game, pushing her opponent and herself to the brink.
“We had some really close matches that we couldn’t quite pull out,” said co-captain Virginia Shannon ’11 of the loss to Mount Holyoke. “It got harder to win as the match went on and we realized that we were scrambling for wins. It’s hard to relax and hit winners in a high-pressure situation like that, alone on the court. That’s one of the difficult parts of playing an individual sport; you need five people to step up on any given day.”
By Saturday afternoon, the women needed to ready themselves for their next test. While playing Columbia University in the loser’s bracket of the Kurtz Cup was not where the women expected to find themselves, it was not in the team’s nature to allow disappointment to undermine a will to finish the season on a high note.
The Panthers defeated Columbia 6-3 in a repeat performance of a 7-2 Middlebury victory last month. Playing with a micro-fracture in her left hand sustained during the match against Mount Holyoke, Elena Laird ’11.5 won a close match at number one. All told, the women advanced to the finals of the consolation round, where they met Amherst College.
In Middlebury’s previous meeting with Amherst, the women secured a comfortable 6-3 victory in a match played at the Lord Jeffs’ home courts. For Sunday’s match, the Panthers felt that they had left something to be desired after the teams’ January meeting.
“We were able to play well the rest of the weekend and showed that we had improved from earlier in the season” Bostwick observed. “It is good to end the season with a couple of wins and to bounce back from the tough loss to Mount Holyoke.”
In what was the final intercollegiate squash match for Shannon, Middlebury routed Amherst 8-1, securing 13th place in the tournament and most likely a year-end ranking of 13th overall. In 2009-2010, the Panthers finished 14th overall. Apart from the one loss, Shannon and the rest of her teammates recorded victories as some solace for Friday’s disappointing results.
The women’s regular season concluded on Sunday following the completion of the A-Flight championship match between Harvard and Yale Universities. The Bulldogs won the Howe Cup with a stunning 5-4 victory, upending the defending champion Crimson.
For the Panthers, it is likely that Laird, Shannon and Abby Jenkins ’14 will receive invitations to play for the nation’s individual championships, divided into A and B draws. The rest of the women will begin a long off-season, awaiting the arrival of several highly touted newcomers who will matriculate in the fall. The team’s final record of 18-6 combined with a best-ever second place finish in the NESCAC reflects the great success of the 2010-2011 campaign.
“This was an incredible final season for me on the team,” Shannon added. “I’m sure this is the start of Middlebury being a powerhouse team. I will be a proud alumnus next year.”
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