The women's squash team is off to a rough start this season, as coach Doug Eng's team has lost all four of its matches thus far, losing to Vassar 3-6, William Smith 4-5, St. Lawrence 0-9, and most recently, 0-9 to Wellsley.
The Jumbos were outmatched by an experienced Wellsley lineup, as only sophomore A.J. Crane managed to win a game, losing in the six spot to Lila Lee, 10-8, 1-9, 2-9, 1-9.
"We have a bunch of novice players," said freshman Nicole Arens, who played in the number-two slot, losing 5-9, 2-9, 4-9 to Laura Tillsley.
Senior co-captain Anne Montesano, playing in the top position, lost in straight games, 9-0, 9-2, and 9-4. Her loss was indicative of the entire team's performance. In fact, the closest another Jumbo came to winning a game was senior co-captain Justine Kurland, who lost 10-8 in the third game of the third match.
Host Wellesley ran away with the rest of the matches, as the bottom three Tufts players won a combined five games.
Despite the team's early shortcomings, coach Doug Eng remains optimistic and refuses to call this a rebuilding season. "My philosophy is that every season is a building season," he said. The coach preaches "attitude" and "work ethic" to his players and the message seems to have gotten through.
"We are really motivated to play," Montesano said. "We are working hard."
Still, the team knows it has the potential to perform better than it did yesterday at Wellsley.
"I was a little disappointed," Kurland said. "Hopefully we will show improvement."
Because of the absence of several players from last year's team, much of the team has been forced into higher slots than they are accustomed to. Freshman Nicole Arens, for instance, has been bumped up all the way to the second slot.
"I'm happy to be playing the number two," Arens said. "But it puts a lot of pressure on me." Though Arens has dropped the first four matches of her college career, she has improved since her debut.
And though the team hasn't been successful in the win column this year, its commitment to improvement is not lacking.
"Our attitude is solid on and off the court," Montesano said. "People are doing their best."
Eng feels that the strength of this team will come from the middle of lineup - the 3-6 players. Eng mentions the noteworthy improvement of sophomore Leigh Checchino in the fourth spot.
"Leigh has had steady improvement in her year and a half with the team," Eng said. "She should have won her match against Vassar." Against Vassar, a meet the team lost 6-3, Checchino lost in five games. Eng also recognized the "110 percent effort" given by freshman Eliza Drachman-Jones in the eight spot.
Eng also expects a big year from junior Eileen Connors. "She has improved a lot," Eng said. "She has won two of her first four matches and was up 2-1 in games against St. Lawrence before losing. She wants to step forward and is doing it really well."
The team next plays on Sunday in the Wesleyan Invitational.
"Right now the best thing is preparing a game plan to deal with different kinds of players," Arens said. "To adapt to different settings and players, we need to be more accurate and consistent."
"Individually we are all pretty strong," Montesano said. "It's a question of filling the roles we need to on the team."
At Wesleyan the team hopes that its continued hard work and dedication will result in a much-needed win.
