Ephs Put Up Good Fight Against Trinity Bantams

HARTFORD, CT - On Sunday afternoon, the Ephs travelled to Hartford to take on their final NESCAC opponent of the regular season - the Trinity Bantams.

This match was bound to be a tough one for the Ephs since Trinity is a top 3 team. Even comparing the names on their two ladders - it seems unlikely that an Alexandra Pear from Philadelphia is going to stand a chance against an Amina Taher from Alexandria, Egypt. Still, the Ephs were excited to face such worthy opponents and to see how they could do against the top level of collegiate squash. The Ephs used a five court system for this match. Senior captain Esther Baek (#2), sophomore Abby LeBlanc (#4), junior Anna Nicholson (#6), freshman Alex Pear (#8), and junior Eliza Bower (#10) led the charge for the Ephs in the first wave of play. Baek and Nicholson gave their Bantam opponents good runs, but the quality of their opponents' squash was too high and they were eventually defeated in three games. LeBlanc waged a furious battle against her opponent, nearly taking the second game, and winning the third game comfortably. LeBlanc was hitting cross volley drops like no other and her opponent didn't know what hit her. Her opponent, probably confused as to how this girl was playing for Williams and not Harvard, folded 11-3 in the third game. Unfortunately, LeBlanc could not keep her hot streak up and eventually fell 11-8 in the fourth. Pear also gave her Bantam opponent a serious fret. Although Pear's opponent hailed from the notoriously incredible squash land called Egypt, Pear didn't let that phase her and ran down every single shot she could. Her opponent rewarded Pear for her effort when she folded 11-8 in the third game. Pear, despite her high energy, couldn't keep up with the unbelievable shot accuracy of her opponent by the end of the match and lost 11-6 in the fourth. Bower defeated her Bantam opponent 3-0, marking a single but awesome victory for the Ephs in the first round of matches. Next on for the Ephs were sophomore Julia Ward (#1), sophomore Sarah Willwerth (#3), junior Melissa Swann (#5), freshman Kathryn Wright (#7), and sophomore Adrienne Conza (#9). Ward, Willwerth, Swann, and Wright all worked their hardest to make their Trinity opponents sweat and lose control of the rally. Despite their best effort, however, they were all met with seriously tough opponents and were outplayed in all three games. Conza turned the match narrative over and finally put a top 9 win on the board for the Ephs in a convincing 3-0 win.

Head coach Zafi Levy had this to say after the match: "Trinity is one of the best teams in the nation, and we were very lucky to get to play such high quality players today. The team all worked very hard to play the best squash possible, and I was impressed to see them raise their level of play to match their stellar opponents."

The Ephs take on Brown in their final home match of the season on Wednesday, February 6.