Ephs Lose to Brown 7-2

PRINCETON, NJ - Women's squash fell 7-2 to Brown on Friday evening in the first round match of the Women's National Team Championships. The Ephs were seeding 7th in Kurtz Cup (B Division) and were matched with the 2nd seed Brown team. After playing the Bears less than two weeks ago, the Ephs were ready to improve upon their 9-0 loss, and did just that. Williams had a slight chance to upset the Bears, but the higher seed held tonight.

The start of the match brought a shred of hope for the Ephs as the kicked off the first round matches with two victories. Playing the three court system, first up to play were numbers 3, 6 and 9. Maria Pylypiv (#9) almost forced a fourth game in her match, but was defeated 12-10 in the third game and fell 3-0. However, Caroline Sawin (#3) and Lily Grant (#6) both set the tone for Williams, winning their matches 3-0 and 3-1 respectively. Grant battled hard after dropping the first game, to come back and win 12-10, 11-7 and 12-10 in the last three games of her 3-1 victory. Sawin never let her opponent see a chance of winning a game, let alone the match, and stormed to a three game victory.

After the first round of matches, the Ephs found themselves in a great position to possibly upset the higher seeded team. However, none of the three second round matches could gain a point for Williams. Charlotte Walsh (#8) and co-captain Ellie O'Neill each lost 3-0 to their Brown opponents. Ellen Coombe (#5) won the first game of her match 13-11 but dropped the next three to lose the match 3-1.

With three losses, Williams was now down 4-2 and needed to win all three of the last round matches. This was too tall of a challenge for the Ephs, and none of the three could pull out a victory. Alyssa Ritchie (#7) and co-captain Alyssa Northrop (#1) both lost 3-0. Nicole Feshbach (#4) showed a sign of victory with a 14-12 first game win, but could not hold on and lost in four games. 

"We had some awesome wins today and improved our score since the last time," commented Northrop. "This sets us up well going into Middlebury confidently tomorrow."

The Ephs will take on Middlebury in the consolation semi finals on Saturday at 4:30 pm. This will be the third time Williams has played Middlebury this season alone. The first time resulted in a 5-4 win and the second time in a 5-4 loss for the Ephs. Women's squash is determined to redeem themselves from their most recent loss and defeat one of their main rivals.

Individual Scores: