Looking back (Dec. 1-2) | Women's squash sweeps Boston shootout
The women's squash team showed up at Harvard for the weekend's Boston Shootout in desperate need of a win. Not only had the Jumbos lost their last two matches, but in lopsided fashion, falling to both Williams (Nov. 17) and Dartmouth (Nov. 28) 9-0.
Saturday, the Jumbos got just what they needed - and then some.
With a 5-4 win in its first match of the weekend, Tufts topped the Bowdoin Polar Bears for the first time in two decades, a marked turnaround from last season's 9-0 loss.
And it wasn't a dominant one-two punch from the Jumbo lineup that got the team going. In fact, Tufts dropped its top four matches, relying on a stabilizing force at the bottom of the ladder to turn the group around and ultimately pull out the much-needed win.
Freshman Valerie Koo led the turnaround with a 9-4, 9-6, 9-6 win at No. 5 over Polar Bear junior Maddie McQueeney, and junior Jessica Herrmann, senior co-captain Micela Leis and freshman Margaret Fisher followed her with wins from the No. 6 through 8 slots; freshman Allison Dempsey won by default at No. 9.
The victory over Bowdoin propelled Tufts to two more over the weekend - successive 8-1 wins over Middlebury Saturday and Northeastern Sunday - to move to 4-2 on the season.
Looking ahead (Dec. 8) | Utah Jazz at Dallas Mavericks
The 13-6 Utah Jazz head to Dallas on Saturday to take on the 12-6 Mavericks in a matchup of two of the Western Conference's titans.
The Jazz currently sit atop the Northwest Division, a game and a half ahead of the Denver Nuggets, while the Mavericks are tied for second place in the Southwest Division, three games behind the San Antonio Spurs in arguably the toughest division in the NBA.
With Tim Duncan currently injured, the Mavericks will look to make up some ground on the Spurs. For the Jazz, who play the Spurs on Friday, this weekend is a chance to validate their status as a championship contender.
The matchup will feature a clash between two of the top young point guards in the NBA in Utah's Deron Williams and Dallas' Devin Harris. Williams is averaging 19.8 points and 8.9 assists per game, good for fourth in the NBA. Harris is averaging 14.7 points and 5.3 assists for a deep Mavericks squad. The Mavericks will have to contain power forward Carlos Boozer, who has emerged as an offensive force in his sixth season, averaging 24.9 points per game.
Utah won the season series 2-1 last year.
