Women's squash gathers momentum for big dance

In its last home match, the women's squash team added the season's first pair of back to back wins, defeating 19th ranked Connecticut College 6-3 at Harvard on Saturday. With three upset victories over higher ranked opponents the past two weeks, the Jumbos improved their record to 5-11 and leapt into the top half of the Walker Cup portion of the National Championship, for teams ranked 17th -24th, nabbing the fourth seed.

Tonight, an incomplete Tufts squad squares off against 17th ranked Wellesley, which routed Tufts 9-0 on Dec. 4, while conceding just two individual games to Tufts out of the 26 games played. Hoping to improve upon the thrashing that occurred in the earlier contest, a depleted Tufts squad faces its toughest test since the onset of its recent surge at the Mt. Holyoke Invitational two weeks ago.

In Saturday's match against Connecticut College, the poised squad overcame the higher ranked opponent and showed its depth in front of its last home crowd of the season.

"This was the seniors' last home match," coach Doug Eng said. "Connecticut College had a lack of depth. They are good at the top, 2-4, but then they dropped off."

The team came out fired up in its last chance to perform for the hometown fans, defeating the outgunned Camels to the tune of 6-3. Exhibiting their superior depth, the Jumbos dominated the 5-9 spots, with a record of 15-0.

"We knew we had a good chance to win this match," said sophomore Eliza Drachman-Jones, who easily won her seventh spot match 3-0. "Since it was our last home match, we came out really juiced up. All of our friends came to watch us."

Although the team won without much difficulty, the match results leave some room for improvement as the team prepares for the Walker Cup. While the team pounded William Smith 8-1 last weekend, the Herons were without their number two and seven players because of injuries, which may have prevented them from posing a challenge to the full ranks of a deep Jumbo squad.

"I'm concerned about the competition at the top, mentally [spots 2-4]," Eng said. "To win at William Smith, we have to win at one of those spots. To beat Wellesley, we definitely have to win there. We have to figure out what we're going to do with those spots."

Eng outlined a problem with the team's performance recently, in which the spots 2-4 have struggled. These spots failed to produce a victory in the two most competitive matches over their recent run, against both Connecticut College (6-3 win) and Mt. Holyoke (4-5 loss) over the last two weeks. The latter part of the Tufts lineup kept the match close last week, winning the 4-6 spots before eventually succumbing 5-4 to rival Mt. Holyoke on Sunday February 2.

If the season ended today, the Jumbos, with the fourth seed in the Walker Cup, would meet the dangerous fifth seeded squad from William Smith in the opening round. Although the Jumbos have put together a run, with a full squad the Herons pose a formidable challenge.

"We have never faced a full strength William Smith team," senior co-captain Winnie So said. "But all the wins have given the team more enthusiasm. The team is more together."

Through all of the adversity early in the season, including an early 2-11 record, the squad has managed to recover over the last two weeks and effectively establish themselves as a legitimate competitor for the Walker Cup.

"After the win at Connecticut College the players know we can beat anyone," Eng said.

A full lineup distinguishes the hot team over the last five matches (3-2) from the debilitated squad that showed up in the previous 13 matches, going 2-11.

. "We finally got the whole team together," Eng said. "In the last four matches, we could've gone 4-0."