WILLIAMSTOWN, MA – The Ephs had another great win today against the Middlebury Panthers, dominating one of their biggest rivals in the NESCAC in a 7-2 victory. The Ephs have always had extremely close matches with the Middlebury team, but their strength this season came through today with a win that marks their 7th straight victory.
The match followed the three-court system, with Caroline Hogan (#9), Ellen Coombe (#6), and co-captain Nicole Feshbach (#3) up first. Hogan and Coombe both dominated from the very beginning, finishing their opponents off in three games. Feshbach faced a tough opponent, and came back from being 2-1 down to win in five extremely close games, making the match 3-0 to the Ephs.
Up next were Hayley Parsons (#2), Esther Baek (#5), and Charlotte Walsh (#8). Following the example of her teammates, Walsh dominated her opponent start to finish, scoring the fourth point for the Ephs in three games. Parsons faced a difficult opponent, but stayed strong and won her match 3-1. Baek fought hard against a strong player, but eventually fell to her opponent in four close games.
Last on court were Nicole Friedman (#1), Ananya Mahalingam-Dhingra (#4), and co-captain Lily Grant (#7). Mahalingam-Dhingra fell to her opponent in four tight games, but Grant was the next to pull a win for the Ephs, defeating her opponent in an intense five-game match. Friedman played an excellent game of squash and dominated her Middlebury opponent in three games.
Assistant coach Blair Dils was extremely happy with the important win today, commenting, "The team has done a tremendous job of preparing for our big rivalry matches and going out and performing. Mental toughness has been a real strength of the team this year from top to bottom."
Co-captain Feshbach echoed his words, stating, "We always have extremely close matches with Middlebury, so this was a great win for us today. We have a tough schedule next weekend and are hoping to continue our strong play at the Yale round robin, win another Little Three title, and hopefully finish the next week off by beating Brown!"
The Ephs face Yale (2:30pm) and Stanford (6pm) next Saturday in New Haven. They then will host the Little Three tournament and face Wesleyan (11am) and Amherst (3pm) on Sunday. They will then travel to Providence to face the Brown Bears on Tuesday, February 2nd, at 5pm.
INDIVIDUAL SCORES TO COME.
