The men's and women's squash teams each emerged winless after clashing with a pair of NESCAC rivals in Brunswick, ME this past weekend. Tufts took on both the hosting Bowdoin Polar Bears and a nearby Maine neighbor, the Bates Bobcats, in what proved to be a trying weekend for coach Doug Eng's squads.
The women's team dropped a pair of close matches, falling to Bowdoin 5-4 and Bates 6-3.
"It was a very close match" senior co-captain Justine Kurland said, "It could have gone either way." Kurland's match ended up being the decisive one against Bowdoin, as the teams were tied 4-4 going into her match. Kurland stepped up and won the first two games of her match.
"I was playing the best squash of my career in my opinion," Kurland said. "I feel I should have won." However she was unable to hold on. "My opponent began to read my shots better, and I was less in control of the points." Kurland suffered in her words a "heartbreaking" 3-2 defeat.
"I know that we all learned from our matches and will use that experience in the last three weeks of the season," she said."
The two impressive performances for the women this past weekend however were the play of sophomore A.J. Crane and junior Eileen Connors the number seven and six seeds on the team. The victories by the two women revealed a trend that this year's team seems to follow. The team tends to play very well in the bottom of their lineup.
"We happen to have a really deep team," Connors said. "We tend to win at the bottom a lot more."
Crane, in her match against Bowdoin, went 0-2 in her first two games. "I had a headache going out there," she said. "After the first two games, I knew that I could beat her. I wasn't playing up to my potential." Crane made a comeback, and won the final three matches.
Against Bates, the 11th ranked team in the nation, the top five players were blanked by the Bobcats. Again, the bottom of the lineup performed well, as Crane Connors, and freshman Nida Ghouse all won their matches.
One of the stories of the season is the slow start of top seed Winnie So. After losing both of her matches this weekend she is still winless on the season. "She is rusty," Eng said. Nevertheless, Eng has confidence that things will turn around for his top player.
"I'm not putting a lot of pressure on her, " he said. "This weekend her game will be sharper."
The team must now prepare for a grueling two day, four match marathon this weekend. They will take on Middlebury, Vassar, William-Smith and Smith. "We hope to win them all," Eng said. "Still I will be happy with a 3-1 weekend." The coach says that Middlebury will be there toughest opponent.
On the men's side, the Jumbos suffered back-to-back shutouts, falling 9-0 to both the Polar Bears and Bobcats. "They are both very good teams," Eng said. "It may be the best Bates team they have ever had. They were very tough. What can you do?"
Senior tri-catpain Colin O'Higgins agreed with his coach's assessment. "They were both better teams," O'Higgins said.
O'Higgins exemplified the Jumbos' overall frustration by the fact that he failed to win a game in either match, marking the first time he had done so in his squash career. He fell 9-4, 9-1, 9-1 against Bates and then 9-0, 9-1, 9-3 in the Bowdoin match. Collectively, Tufts managed to take just one game against the Bobcats and four against the Polar Bears.
Despite the lopsided results, however, the weekend was not devoid of excitement, which came against Bowdoin courtesy of the squad's number one player, senior tri-captain Neil Pallaver. Pallaver jumped out to a commanding lead after winning the first two games of his match 9-1, 9-1, only to lose the next three, 9-1, 9-5, 9-4.
"He was beating him soundly but unfortunately the kid came back," O'Higgins said.
Another senior tri-captain, Shayan Haque also looked strong at the outset of his match against Bowdoin with a 9-4 win in the opening game. But like Pallaver, he was unable to hold on, and won just two points the rest of the match en route to a 9-4.
The team is now looking forward to its Feb. 7 match against M.I.T, which will be played at Harvard. "M.I.T. is going to be a tough match," Eng said.
