Women's squash rebounds with back-to-back wins

The outlook was bleak for the women's squash team after losing its number two player to injury and dropping three matches two weekends ago. The Jumbos turned the situation around quickly, however, with wins in two tough matches against Wesleyan and Connecticut College last weekend at Harvard.

The women were on top of their game during a 7-2 victory over Wesleyan. Freshman Julia Avrutin led the way for Tufts in the number one slot, defeating her opponent in five games (6-9, 9-2, 7-9, 9-2, 9-7).

"My opponent was a pretty strong player but my focus was just on playing my own game," Avrutin said. "I didn't want to let her get into my head."

"Jules did a good job of attacking both the front court and the back court this time," coach Doug Eng said. "She's only a freshman; she's learning a lot and playing well."

Senior tri-captain Leigh Checchio fell at the number two position (9-6, 4-9, 3-9, 4-9) while junior Nicole Arens picked up a big victory at the number three spot, winning 8-10, 9-3, 9-2, 9-1. Senior tri-captain AJ Crane, playing number four, dropped a tough match (9-7, 8-10, 1-9, 1-9), but junior tri-captain Eliza Drachman-Jones swept her opponent at number five, winning 9-3, 9-5, 9-1.

"I was pumped up from my earlier five-game win against Connecticut College and I ended up playing real well," Drachman-Jones said. "I was just real excited and playing at the top of my game."

Sophomore Zoe Bolesta battled back from a two game deficit to pull off a victory at number six (9-10, 9-10, 9-5, 9-0, 9-6).

"Zoe pulled an Eliza," Eng joked, referring to Drachman-Jones, who pulled off a five game comeback earlier in the day against Connecticut. "Zoe and Eliza officiate and coach each other's matches so their strong play rubs off on each other," he said.

Freshman Liz Thys, junior Rhonda Barkan, and sophomore Joelle Polivy all came through at the seventh, eighth, and ninth positions, respectively, which solidified the victory for the Jumbos.

Avrutin felt the team played at a high level against Wesleyan.

"We weren't expecting to win that easily," she said. "That match is definitely going to help our standings as we move on to the Howe Cup at the end of the season."

Earlier in the day, the Jumbos dominated Conn. College by a similar margin of victory. Avrutin was victorious again at number one, winning 9-5, 9-7, 9-6.

"The last time I played Connecticut College I defeated the girl in five games," Avrutin said. "I was glad that this time I won without dropping a game."

Checchio had a strong match as well, winning in three games at number two (10-8, 9-0, 9-3). Arens also came through in a tough five game match (9-6, 8-10, 5-9, 10-9, 9-6) in the third spot.

Conn. College came back to win at number four, as Crane fell in three close games, but Drachman-Jones came back from two games down to win at number five (5-9, 4-9, 9-5, 9-5, 9-6.

"I just battled hard and stuck with it," Drachman-Jones said.

"Even though Eliza lost those first two games, she knew there wasn't much difference in ability from her opponent," Eng said. "As soon as she started reading her opponent better and anticipating her better, she started to do well."

"Considering we had a few tough losses last weekend, we just wanted it a lot more this weekend and we played much better," Drachman-Jones said.

"The previous weekend we just weren't being aggressive," Eng said. "We spent the week working on ground strokes and driving the ball deeper. We stuck to our game plan and played really well."

Tufts' depth helped it capture the rest of the matches. Bolesta, Thys, Barkan, and Polivy all stepped up at the sixth, seventh, eight, and ninth positions, respectively. None of them lost a game.

The Jumbos look to continue that aggressive play and carry the momentum from their wins last weekend with them when they travel to Colby on Friday and then Bowdoin on Saturday.