WASHINGTON, DC – Women's squash traveled to Washington DC on Saturday to take on George Washington and Georgetown after beating F&M on Friday evening. The Colonials proved to be too tough a challenge for the Ephs and Williams was defeated 8-1 in that contest. The women turned that right around for their match with Georgetown and swept the Hoyas 9-0.
Williams squash knew that GW was strong team, as they have moved up in the rankings the past couple of years, but put up a good fight and won games across the ladder. Playing in the three-court system first up came Ananya Mahalingam-Dhingra (#9), Ellen Coombe (#6) and co-captain Ellie O'Neill (#3). The Eph number 9 had a long match and almost came off court with a victory for Williams but eventually was defeated 11-8 in the fifth game. O'Neill found herself 2-0, but came back to win the third 12-10. Her opponent refused to let Williams get a point from the number 3s and took the match 3-1. Coombe fell in three close games.
After the first round of matches, the Ephs were down 3-0 with little room for any more losses. Unfortunately, the second round featured two more GW wins which sealed the match. Charlotte Walsh (#8) was defeated in five games and Hayley Parsons (#2) lost in four games. Co-captain Caroline Sawin (#5) was the lone win for the Ephs with her 3-2 victory over her GW adversary. Sawin was able to showcase her endurance and mental strength with her comeback from being down 2-0 to then win the match in five games.
Even though GW had taken the match, there was still one more round left to play. Alyssa Ritchie (#7), Nicole Feshbach (#4) and Nicole Friedman (#1) all fought hard but fell to their opponents each in three games. The final score of Saturday morning's match versus George Washington was 8-1 in favor of the Colonials.
With little rest, the Ephs took the court next at 2:30 pm to take on Georgetown. Even though this was the third match of the weekend for Williams, the women held their ground and swept George Washington 9-0 without dropping a single game throughout the ladder.
"GW was a tough opponent, but we had a solid performance," commented Sawin. "We could have won some of the close matches, but overall I was proud of how the team played."
"I was really pleased with our performance this weekend," agreed Head Coach Zafi Levy. "F&M is a very strong team, so I was really happy with a 8-1 win. GW is a top 8 team and we pushed them hard. We lost 2 matches in 5 games and 2 matches in 4. Overall a great weekend for the program."
The women have a record of 2-1 for the weekend, with wins against F&M and Georgetown and a loss from GW. Next weekend is a light weekend for the Ephs with only one match versus Mount Holyoke. Williams will play this match back at Williamstown at 1 pm on Saturday the 24th.
Individual Scores to come:
