In three matches this weekend, the women's squash team kept up its pace of beating teams behind them in the rankings. No. 23 Tufts had important wins over No. 28 Wellesley last Thursday and No. 32 Boston College on Sunday. But a 9-0 loss to No.16 Wesleyan in between on Friday — in which the final three Jumbos in the nine-person ladder all lost in three games and managed only 12 points between them — raised concerns about the team's depth.
"We all need to improve," senior co-captain Valerie Koo said. "Wesleyan has a very experienced ladder at the bottom, and our bottom lacks experience. They don't all know yet what to do in these situations, but that comes with time."
In Sunday's 7-2 pummeling of the Eagles, four of the Jumbos' wins came in dominating straight game fashion. At the top of the ladder, junior Alix Michael and Koo fought to win in at the four and five slots, respectively against opponents they had never played before. At the bottom of the ladder, in the No. 8 spot, sophomore Caitlin Doherty had her first collegiate victory.
"It was so satisfying to finally win after losing so many matches," Doherty said. "I knew nothing about squash at the beginning of this season."
Tufts played without another one of its rookies this weekend — sophomore Risa Meyers, who was with the equestrian team at the Tournament of Champions Holiday Classic in Laurinburg, North Carolina. Without Meyers, Doherty and fellow sophomore Chelsea Dickson were forced to move up in the ladder, which hurt in the matchup with the Cardinals, who at No. 16 nationally are in the national B division — Tufts is currently in the C division. Still, the contests at the top of the ladder were extremely competitive, including three five-game matches and one marathon battle eventually lost by Tufts sophomore Jessica Rubine 16-14 in the decisive final game.
"I think both we and Wesleyan played well," Koo said. "Three matches went to five, but we weren't able to win any of them, which is kind of unlucky. We hope to play them again, and I'll think we'll have a better result, at least closer than 9-0."
The Jumbos beat the Blue 6-3 in the weekend's opening match. Tufts had wins in the first six spots in the ladder — including a dominating performance by junior co-captain Mercedes Barba, who only gave up ten points in the No. 3 spot, a gutty win from sophomore Ushashi Basu, who won each of her three games by just two points, and a five-game win by Michael over Wellesley freshman Rosemary O'Connor, a hyped recruit.
"Overall it wasn't too close," Koo said. "They have a pretty good recruit, so it was good that Michael won in five games. I think we did well considering that we were missing Risa."
But the Jumbos again struggled at the bottom three spots of the ladder against the Blue, losing all three matches. Only sophomore Hafsa Chadbury in the No. 7 spot was able to take a game off her Wellesley opponent.
The Jumbos will try to fill the holes in their lineup over winter break before a second matchup with the Blue on Jan. 20. With Meyers back in the lineup, Koo expects an even better result in what will be a home match for the Jumbos at Belmont Hill high school.
"They're our first match after Christmas break, and with Risa, the score should be even better," Koo said.
