The kick-off to the women's squash season was nothing short of brutal, as the Jumbos lost four straight matches in what was likely its toughest weekend of the season.
Tufts, ranked No. 23 in the College Squash Association's national preseason poll, took to the road on Friday for the Dartmouth Fall Classic, where teams from Dartmouth, Bates, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Colby, Conn. College, and Stanford competed alongside the Jumbos. The squad faced higher-ranked No. 6 Dartmouth, No. 10 Bates, and No. 14 Stanford and came away empty-handed in all three matches, winning just two individual games.
After falling 9-0 to Dartmouth, 9-0 to Bates and 7-2 to Stanford, the team had to rally to face No. 7 Williams less than 24 hours later in its home opener in Harvard's Murr Center. The Ephs drubbed the Jumbos, 9-0, dropping Tufts to 0-4 on the season.
"Everyone was really tired coming off of the weekend," senior co-captain Julia Avrutin said. "We had a couple ups and some chances, but if we had played them another time we could have gotten some games."
Williams, which came off an 8-1 victory over Stanford, had the luxury of a home match prior to Sunday's battle with Tufts, as opposed to the Jumbo's three-game road trip leading up to the match.
The Ephs' relaxation and composure were evident as they beat each of their opponent in straight games, but the Jumbos were not about to let down.
"Overall, we were mentally strong and tough on court," junior Rebecca Rice said. "We didn't let the skills of the other players intimidate us."
Rice, the only team member to qualify at the CSA singles tournament last season, topped the lineup for the second straight year. Playing at the No. 1 slot, she put up some good points against Williams' top player, freshman Toby Eyre, but fell 9-3, 9-4, 9-2.
The No. 2 and 3 slots, held by Avrutin and sophomore Victoria Barba, respectively, proved a battle as well, as both players fell in hard-fought matches. Barba had the longest and closest match, but fell 9-7, 9-4, 9-5. Avrutin was defeated 9-4, 9-1, 9-2.
While walking out of the Murr Center with a 9-0 loss and sore bodies was just bitter icing of a rough weekend, the match against Stanford at the Dartmouth Fall Classic was the toughest loss to swallow. The Jumbos they fell 7-2 in a duel that saw many narrow matches.
"If Stanford had been the first match of the weekend, we could've taken them, but everyone was really tired and injuries were acting up," Avrutin said.
Avrutrin shone in the match, stomping on Stanford senior Ashleigh Pattie, 9-3, 9-1, 9-3.
"Winning those games will have a positive impact on my game by knowing that I can beat some really good girls," Avrutin said.
Three matches went to four games as the Jumbos' play closely matched the Cardinals'. Tufts No. 4 player and freshman Stefanie Marx came up victorious in a four-game battle (9-4, 9-5, 2-9, 9-5) against Stanford sophomore Esther Cheng.
"She really stepped it up in her Stanford match," Rice said of Marx. "She played good short tricky boasts, but established her length well, too, and was patient. The main thing was that she ran every single ball down and would not give up. She had fire in her eyes the whole match."
The rest of the squad was not as successful. Thys fell in a nail-biting 6-9, 9-4, 9-2, 9-7 defeat, and Stanford sophomore Steph Kwok outlasted Jumbo sophomore Jessica Herrmann at the No. 6 slot in a 9-6, 4-9, 9-0, 10-0 win.
Weakness throughout the lineup plagued Tufts, Rice (No. 1), junior Micela Leis (No. 7), sophomore Simone Grant (No. 8) and senior Morgan Glazebrook (No. 9) failed to pick up a single game in the Stanford match. Rice battled hard, but Stanford sophomore Lily Lorentzen, a Harvard transfer currently ranked as the best player in the nation, proved unbeatable.
"There's so much to learn stepping in the game with some of those girls, that you can take those experiences and use them towards your season," Rice said. "You take it back to practice and take it back to your matches. Playing against these teams makes your realize you can always step it up."
The Jumbos' other losses, both at 9-0 to higher ranked teams, stung as well, but the team drew experience from the losses and looks ahead to future matches.
"We played against some really good competitors this weekend," Avrutin said. "Watching some of the people we played against has taught us a lot on terms of how competitive to be, how to prepare, and how not to get psyched out knowing we're playing a really good team."
The Thanksgiving break should provide a much needed rest for the team.
"This will be a good time for us to recover," Rice said. "It was a really hard weekend and we've been playing for seven days straight."
