Women's Squash Beats Middlebury Panthers 8-1 in a strong showing

WILLIAMSTOWN, MA- The Ephs solidly defeat the Middlebury Panthers in the first match of 2018, 8-1.

Having just finished a hard week of training, the Williams women's squash team was hungry for a win against Middlebury today. Despite the incredibly cold weather, the team managed to bring the heat on court today: due to hard work all around, especially seen in some during later points of their matches, the team was able to pull off an 8-1 victory. First on court were numbers 9, 6, and 3, played by Caroline Hogan, Sarah Willwerth, and Julia Ward respectively. All three managed to win in three games by playing good, thoughtful squash. They set the tone of the entire match incredibly well with their urgency, skill, and clean play.

Next up on court was co-captain Hayley Parsons at 2, Melissa Swann at 8, and Esther Baek at 5. Parsons and Swann both played relatively short matches, dominating their opponents and winning in 3, finishing the match in Williams favor quickly. Baek fought through a closer match with grit and poise despite some difficult calls and won in 4 games. In the final round of match play, co-captain Nicole Friedman at number 1 played a very crisp match of squash and won handily in 3. Playing at number 7, Abigail Leblanc patiently fought her way back to win in 5 after losing the first two games. Finally, co-captain Ananya Mahalingam-Dinghra played hard in an intense and exciting 5 gamer but unfortunately lost in a very close 5^th game. Overall, a great victory for the Ephs. 

Ep Coach Zafi Levy remarked, "Very impressive win for our women's team. We have played hard throughout the lineup. Our seniors led the way from the start. I am very pleased with the team's effort today"

Assistant coach Blair Dils said, "A great win today. We have such a long history battling out with Midd. To win convincingly was very satisfying. We put in a great weak of training and we played attacking squash in all of our matches. We'll enjoy it for a few hours but then get ready to handle an excellent Yale team tomorrow. 

For Abby [Leblanc], a first-year, to bounce back and win after losing the first two was really impressive. We're very happy with her determination today."