Women's Squash Falls to Drexel 6-3

PHILADELPHIA, PA – Women's squash fell to Drexel 6-3 and Penn 9-0 on Sunday, December 6^th. After going 1-1 in New Jersey the previous day, the Ephs faced their toughest opponent in the first half of their season in the Dragons. Williams came into the day ranked number 12 in the country while Drexel was just behind them at number 13. The Ephs could not maintain their position though and will fall in the rankings after Sunday's loss.

Playing in the five-court system, the Ephs started off the day behind and spent the rest of the matches trying to catch up. Esther Baek (#4) fell 3-0 to her opponent while Caroline Hogan (#8) and co-captain Lily Grant (#6) each lost in four games to their Drexel adversary. Hayley Parsons (#2) was up 2-1 in her match, but her opponent came back to win the next two and take the match.

Even though the Ephs started off down 4-0, they knew that a win could still be possible. Charlotte Walsh (#7) was the first Eph to score a point – knocking down her opponent in straight games. Celeste Lancaster (#9) had a strong weekend, playing in her first matches in the top 9 this season. Lancaster continued her strong play with a 3-1 victory. Co-captain Nicole Feshbach (#3) also finished off her adversary in four games. 

Last up playing were Ananya Mahalingam-Dhingra (#5) and Nicole Friedman (#1). Friedman fell in three games, while Mahalingam-Dhingra lost 12-10 in the fourth. The final score was 6-3 in favor of Drexel.

"We are definitely disappointed about today's loss," commented Feshbach. "There were a few opportunities for us to win the match, but we were unable to do so. However, we are confident that once we have our full ladder in January (we have two Juniors abroad right now) we will be that much stronger and use this loss to motivate us for the second part of the season."

The day was not over for Williams yet, as they traveled to Penn for a 3:30 pm match and their fourth match of the weekend. Penn, coming into the match as the number 2 team in the country, lived up to their ranking and no Williams player was able to get a game off of their opponent.

"It has been a long weekend playing two of the best teams in the league," added head coach Zafi Levy. "I think we have improved a lot over the weekend and developed as a team. Against Drexel we played excellent and could have won, but being short two players made the task slightly out of reach. However, I am encouraged by the performance of all the players.

This concludes the first part of the squash season for the women, ending 2015 with a 2-6 record. Next up for the Ephs is Hamilton on January 5^th 2016 back home in Williamstown. 

Individual Scores vs. Drexel:

Individual Scores vs. Penn: