After a two-week break from competition, the No. 21 women's squash team was back in action last week, losing to Boston College on Thursday and then going 3-1 at the Wesleyan Round Robin this weekend. Heading into winter break, Tufts' record sits at a respectable 5-3.
At Wesleyan on Saturday, the Jumbos won three straight matches against No. 23 Colby, No. 25 Smith and No. 28 William Smith.
Tufts had an impressive 9-0 sweep over William Smith, in which eight of nine Jumbos won in three straight games. Freshman Ann Bellinger lost her first game before winning the next three with 11-9 scores to take the victory. Junior Jessica Rubine shined in the No. 1 spot, only allowing William Smith sophomore Caroline Moxley to take eight points.
Earlier in the day, Tufts enjoyed a commanding 8-1 victory over Smith. Rubine faltered in this match, falling to freshman Jacqueline Zhou in three games, but that was the only loss in the contest for Tufts, though junior Madison Newbound had a close five-game victory in the No. 8 spot, losing her second and fourth games.
At the No. 3 spot in the lineup, freshman Paige Dahlman was down one game before rallying to take the next three.
Tufts' first match of the day against Colby proved to be the most exciting, with seven of the nine matches lasting more than three games. The Jumbos managed to come away from the NESCAC match-up with a 5-4 win over the Mules.
The importance of Tufts' deep lineup showed on Saturday, when the top three players in the Jumbos' ladder—Rubine, senior co-captain Mercedes Barba, and Dahlman—all suffered tough losses against their Mules opponents. The team relied on some of its younger players to step up and rally to victory.
"We have new players this year, and younger players than years previous," senior co-captain Alyse Vinoski said. "It's great when the lower end of the ladder gets to play some really hard matches and do really well and persevere ... A lot of people viewed the Colby match and other matches as good learning experiences."
Bellinger and Vinoski each had impressive five-game wins in the No. 4 and 5 spots. Bellinger lost her first and fourth games, and Vinoski lost her first two games before making a comeback to win the next three 11-9, 12-10 and 11-8.
"As a senior, I still struggle with being down. I was down two, and really somehow needed to find the mental ability to push yourself past it," Vinoski said. "It's not about the physical; it's about the mental game and struggling with that. We see that we're all getting a lot out of every match that we play."
Junior Hafsa Chaudhry broke a 1-1 tie with two straight wins in the No. 9 spot.
Tufts has always had close matches against Colby, a team they faced three times last season. The Jumbos lost 5-4 the first two times they met, but turned things around the third time, beating the Mules 5-4 in the Walker Cup on Feb. 19.
"After losing a few matches before Saturday, we came back and wanted to win so badly," Rubine said. "Having those three wins in a row really boosts our confidence levels and shows us we can win and can move up in the rankings. It was a big win to beat Colby, and it was awesome to beat them the first time we played them this year."
The Jumbos struggled in a 9-0 loss to No. 19 Wesleyan on Friday, extending their losing streak to three games before Saturday's wins righted the ship.
Barba was the only player able to extend her match to more than three games against the Cardinals. She won the first game 11-4 before dropping the next two. Barba then tied the match by winning a thrilling fourth game 13-11, but was unable to persevere, falling 11-3 in the decisive fifth.
The day before, Tufts fell 5-4 to No. 31 Boston College. The Jumbos were missing two of their starters — Vinoski and senior Jennifer LaCara, who usually play in the No. 5 and 6 spots, respectively. Vinoski had a class conflict and LaCara was out due to an ankle issue.
With their absence, juniors Risa Meyers, Newbound and Chaudhry moved up in the lineup, and classmate Desen Ozkan and freshman Carol Tan Shu Wei competed in scoring positions for the first time this season.
Rubine, Barba and Dahlman won their matches, but the Jumbos were unable to sustain that success down the ladder, losing five of the lower six matches. Chaudhry was the other Tufts player to win her match, beating Gina Giuggio in three games. Bellinger and Newbound each won their second game, but were unable to keep up the momentum, losing the next two. Tufts beat Boston College 7-2 last year.
"We were obviously all really disappointed in the outcome, but I don't think it represented how we play," Rubine said. "It affected us that we were missing two people, but at the same time, I think we can still play better than we did."
The team took the loss as motivation for increased effort in practice and a commitment to improving.
"It was definitely rough," Vinoski said. "People were in some ways surprised, but it was also a good wakeup call to know that teams change every single year and you never know based on years previous what it's going to be like. You really have to take every game as it comes and do your best one way or another."
The Tufts season continues in January when the Jumbos play in the Pioneer Valley Invitational on Jan. 21-22. The team plans to travel to Florida over winter break, where they will be able to compete against club teams and have more practice time before the season gets going again.
The team will lose two of its starting players, Meyers and Newbound, who will be studying abroad. Fortunately, the Jumbos will welcome back juniors Ushashi Basu and Caitlin Doherty, who both saw competitive action last season.
