The women's squash team, still ranked No. 23 nationally five matches into the season, will be tested once again this weekend in two matches, both against teams behind them in the standings: No. 28 Wellesley and No. 32 Boston College. A win in both match-ups will give the team a chance to leapfrog NESCAC rival No. 17 Wesleyan and move into the top 20.
First up will be the Blue in a road match tonight, the first of two Tufts-Wellesley showdowns this season. The Jumbos dominated the Blue in the last meeting between the two teams in February, winning 8-1. All eight of the Jumbos' wins in the contest were decided in straight sets.
But the Wellesley team is no longer the same. The Blue has shown signs of life this year, winning its first four matches and moving into the top 30. The team is anchored by three first-year members in the top three ladder spots — Rosemary O'Connor, Emma Haley and Dorothy Vickery. The commanding trio all won in an upset earlier this year over Smith, a team that Tufts beat this year as well.
"They have three new players at the top and are definitely better than last year," senior co-captain Valerie Koo said. "It's a good match to start off with, and if we can win, it'll get us some great momentum going into the weekend."
Wellesley has come down to earth a bit recently and currently rides a four-match losing streak, which the Jumbos hope to extend to five.
"I'm not sure how much their lineup will be different, but this is a match that we should win," sophomore Ushashi Basu said.
A win would be helpful to the Jumbos in multiple ways, as they will need all of the momentum they can muster against Wesleyan in another road match tomorrow night. Last season, the Cardinals dispatched the Jumbos 7-2 in the teams' sole meeting. But Tufts, returning its top five players from last season, likes its chances against a team that graduated its No. 1 player last year, Casey Simchik.
"They have new girls at No. 1 and No. 2, which pushes everyone else down the ladder," Koo said. "There will be close matches up and down the ladder. It'll be close, but we can beat them."
Tufts will be counting on some inexperienced players at the bottom of its lineup, including sophomores Risa Meyers and Caitlin Doherty, who are both playing their first year of competitive squash. Koo believes that while the Wesleyan players at the bottom of the ladder may be more experienced, Meyers and Doherty are talented enough to compete for wins.
"They'll just have to go all out for the entire match," she said. "Their opponents may have been around longer, but they shouldn't let the fact that their opponent is older than them faze them."
Tufts will wrap up its weekend slate with a match against Boston College, which started the season at No. 32 and, like Tufts, has stayed put in the rankings. The match will take place at MIT, which counts as a home match for the Jumbos since Tufts does not have its own courts. Tufts is looking to close out its weekend in style and dominate in its final match before winter break.
"We've always beaten them in the past, and as long as we can beat Wellesley we should be strong against them," junior co-captain Mercedes Barba said. "The biggest match this weekend is definitely the Wesleyan match, but everyone will be really excited for the last match before Christmas break."
