Women's Squash Defeats Bates 6-3

LEWISTON, MAINE– The Ephs clinched a tight and important win today against Bates, with a final score of 6-3. The Bobcats have historically been one of the Ephs' greatest rivals in the NESCAC, with Williams narrowly pulling off a 5-4 win against Bates last season. The Ephs hope to continue this positive momentum when they face Bowdoin and Colby on Sunday. 

The match today followed the three-court system, with Caroline Hogan (#9), co-captain Lily Grant (#6), and co-captain Nicole Feshbach (#3) starting off.

Hogan dominated her match from the very beginning, finishing her opponent off in three quick games and putting match score at 1-0. Feshbach followed a similar pattern, only dropping the first game before coming back to win in four games and clinching another point for the Ephs. After four extremely tight games full of long rallies, Grant was defeated in the fourth game, putting the match score at 2-1 to the Ephs.

Hayley Parsons (#2), Ananya Mahalingam-Dhingra (#5), and Charlotte Walsh (#8) were next on court for the second round of matches. Walsh finished off her opponent in three decisive games, gaining another point for the Ephs. Although Parsons fought and took her opponent to five games, she eventually fell 11-7 in the fifth, putting the match score at 4-2 to the Ephs. Mahalingam-Dhingra was the next to finish, beating her opponent in four games and scoring the winning point for the Ephs.

Last on court were Nicole Friedman (#1), Esther Baek (#4), and Ellen Coombe (#7). Coombe and Baek both won, downing their opponents in four and three-game matches, respectively. Although Friedman managed to win the first game against her opponent, the Bates player came back to win the next three and finish the match at 6-3 to the Ephs.

Eph head coach Zafi Levy stated, "It was a decisive win today. I am very proud of the ladies for playing so well. We could have won two more matches, but it is the beginning of the season and we will get better for sure!"

"We came out strong today against Bates," commented co-captain Lily Grant. "Everyone played really well, with great matches from our two juniors just returning from abroad (Coombe, #7, and Ritchie, #10). We are looking forward to continuing this momentum with matches against Bowdoin and Colby tomorrow."

The Ephs continue on the road in Maine tomorrow, playing Colby at 10am and Bowdoin at 3pm on Sunday at their respective home courts.