Ephs Fall in the Semifinals of the Kurtz Cup

CAMBRIDGE, MA – Women's squash lost to Dartmouth in the semifinals of the Kurtz Cup (B Division). The Ephs fell 7-2 to the Big Green on Saturday, after beating Middlebury 7-2 the day before. Williams will face Brown tomorrow for third place and a final ranking of number 11 in the country.

The match versus Dartmouth featured many close matches across the ladder, but unfortunately the Ephs could only pull through in two of them. Co-captain Ellie O'Neill (#3) started her match off strong with an 11-8 win in the first game. On the third court, Ananya Mahalingam-Dhingra (#9) was up 2-0 in her match after a slim 14-12 victory in the second. With Williams ahead in two matches to start the day off, it seemed as if an upset was indeed possible.

However, Mahalingam-Dhingra was the only Eph able to gain a point with her 11-6 win in the fourth game. O'Neill fought back from a 2-1 deficit to force a fifth game, but Dartmouth prevailed 14-12 in the final game. With a loss from Ellen Coombe (#6), Dartmouth was up 2-1 to begin the match.

The next round followed in similar fashion for Williams. Hayley Parsons (#2) pulled through in thrilling five gamer featuring a 16-14 third game, with Parsons finishing the match 11-5 in the fifth. Unfortunately, the two other matches of the round, co-captain Caroline Sawin (#5) and Alyssa Ritchie (#8), both ended in 3-0 defeats for the Ephs.

Dartmouth was now up 4-2, needing only one match to seal their victory. In the last round, they got all three, with Charlotte Walsh (#7), Nicole Feshbach (#4) and Nicole Friedman (#1) all falling to their respective Dartmouth adversaries. Feshbach was almost able to keep her match alive, but lost 15-13 in the third game. Walsh and Friedman both were able to get a game off of their opponent, but each fell 3-1.

"The matches were close today and everyone was playing well," commented Sawin. "We are all excited to take on Brown tomorrow and I think we are in a great position to improve on our 7-2 loss against them earlier in the season."

Williams will look to avenge their loss from a few weeks ago, when they lost 7-2 to Brown in Williamstown. The match featured 5 five-game matches, of which the Ephs lost 4 of the 5. If Williams is able to upset Brown, they will move into the number 11 spot in the CSA rankings. Because of the weather conditions, the match will take place at 5 pm at Harvard on Sunday instead of the previously scheduled 9 am.

Individual Scores: