MEDFORD, Mass. - The #16 ranked Williams College women's squash team took on #11 Tufts University on Saturday afternoon, winning three matches against strong opposition in the 6-3 loss.
Junior Melanie Wang won 3-0 at #2 in an impressive performance, and down the ladder, the Ephs won epics at #6 and #7, with Anika Kakarla and Alicia Chen both persevering in the fifth games of their matches.
Wang made relatively quick work of her opponent, winning 11-8, 15-13, 11-7 in just over 30 minutes to give the Ephs the most straightforward of their points. The other wins came in dramatic fashion. Kakarla at #6 was up 2-0 before the Tufts player stormed back to tie the match, but the junior captain kept her nerve to win the fifth game. All the games were close, as the final scores were 14-12, 11-9, 8-11, 9-11, 11-8. First-year Chen was down 1-0 before taking a 2-1 lead, but after dropping the fourth game, she dominated in the fifth to win. The game scores were 9-11, 11-8, 11-6, 9-11, 11-2.
The only other Eph to take a game on Saturday was Mahika Gupta, who fell 3-1 at #8.
The Ephs will be off until Wednesday, February 11, when the team travels to face Dartmouth College. Williams then travels to Hamilton on the weekend of February 14-15 for the NESCAC Championships.
