Women's Squash | Tufts faces stiff competition with depleted team

    The women's squash team knew from the get-go that its weekend games were going to be a challenge. Not only did the Jumbos have the difficult task of kicking off their season against a Trinity squad that finished last year in the number four slot nationally, but they had to do so without three key members of their team.
    As expected, the 2008-09 season did not begin on the best of notes, as Tufts dropped all four of its matches — albeit against four elite opponents — falling to Trinity 9-0, Dartmouth 9-0, Hamilton 8-1 and Williams 9-0.
    "It was a tough weekend, but we knew it was going to be tough," assistant coach Kelsey Engman said. "It was a lot of driving and we were playing A-flight teams. Trinity is usually in the top three or four teams in the country, and Dartmouth and Williams are both about equally strong. Hamilton was close last year, but [this year] we had several injuries, one girl who is abroad and actually a couple of academic excuses. We only had half of our team playing, which meant that if one girl lost then the match was over."
    "We went in knowing it would be hard," senior tri-captain Victoria Barba said. "But at the same time we had a really positive attitude and I could not have asked for more from my teammates. They gave it their all and I'm really proud of their effort."
    The Jumbos were without senior tri-captain Jessica Herrmann — who is out with a broken rib until January — as well as freshmen Mercedes Barba and Alix Michael. These injuries forced Tufts to play with a shorthanded lineup of either five or six players depending on the match. The team therefore had to concede the seven-through-nine slots, and sometimes the six-slot, leaving them with little to no margin for error.
    Although the squad lost to Williams 9-0 on Sunday, Barba and sophomore Valerie Koo kept the score close at the top two slots, winning 17 and 18 points, respectively. The results were similar against Dartmouth on Saturday and Trinity on Friday.
    Still, despite the disappointment, the weekend was not without at least one major highlight. Victoria Barba emerged victorious from her grueling five-set contest against Hamilton's No. 1 junior Kelly Whipple on Saturday to secure the team's lone individual win of the weekend.
    "The match was great," Barba said. "There was a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of adrenaline. I think half of what got me through the match was hearing all of the cheering outside because it made me want it more. I wanted to get one for the whole team."
    After winning sets one and two, Barba dropped the next two 8-10 and 1-9. But during a break in play before the final set, she found the inspiration to fight on, taking the fifth 10-8.
    "I came off the court after the fourth set just exhausted and completely dead," Barba said. "When I came off the court, I said to myself, ‘Are you really throwing the match away because you're tired?' But then Kelsey and Jessica reminded me to just get back to the basics. I started playing my game and took advantage."
    "It was a spectacular match, really amazing to watch," Engman said. "It lifted everyone's spirits. People were saying that it felt like we won the whole match because her match was so intense. We've been setting up targets in practice and competing every week to see who could hit the most. Victoria hit her spots during the match and stuck to the game plan."
    Despite the poor outcomes in terms of team losses this weekend, the Jumbos are confident that this weekend's results will not be representative of their season.
    "We're stressing, especially to our first years, that this was an atypical weekend," Engman said. "It's not like this all the time, and we just had to make the best of it."
    Tufts' next match will be against Amherst, a team it defeated 5-4 last December. Although Herrmann is not expected to return for the matchup with the Lord Jeffs, Michaels and Mercedes Barba should be healthy enough to compete.
    "Mercedes and Alix, the first-years, haven't practiced yet, so it will be interesting," Engman said. "In practice we'll continue working on hitting the ball a little bit harder so it gets to the back of the court."
    "I think we learned that even when we're at a disadvantage, we can still do some damage," Victoria Barba said. "As much as we knew it was going to be tough this weekend, I think we can still improve our mental state and have a more positive attitude heading into our next match. It's been close in the past with Amherst, and I think we can really take some matches this year. I predict we can get to five matches, which would get us the win."