Last Saturday marked the opening of the women’s squash season in which the team swept Northeastern and but suffered a 6-3 loss to Wellesley. The team’s number one player, Casey Simchik ’10, went undefeated in the opening weekend, defeating her Wellesley opponent 3-1 before sweeping her Northeastern opponent 3-0. Number three Liz Demakos ’09, and number six, Nicole Gray ’08, also won both of their matches.

Unfortunately, the Cards could not climb over the .500 ladder as they lost to a talented Mount Holyoke team by a 9-0 score. Margaux Weisman ’09, subbing in for Andrea Giuliano ’09, won the only game of the match in a 1-3 defeat.

In its matches so far this season, the team’s young exuberance has been overwhelming as the squad tries to eliminate the memories of last year’s disappointing 7-21 season. This season, the squad sports two freshmen at the top two spots, Simchik and Gwynne Hunter ’10.

“Casey [Simchik] came in and is an amazing player,” Giuliano said. “She knows where her opponent is at all times, and she has the ability to hit the ball where her opponent isn’t. She’s an all-around great player. Gwynne also adds a lot to the team, she is a very quiet and silent player, but works hard out there.”

This year, the women’s squash team possesses a newfound commitment not only to improving, but also to finding ways to strategically win matches.

“This year, we’re going for a whole new approach,” said co-captain Nicole Gray ’08. “We’re not relaxing in practices; we’re demanding that everyone be serious and commit to the sport. The squash team is in a transition phase; we’re hoping to make the team as talented and as serious as we can. We’ve taken key steps with recruiting, and have packed our schedule with scrimmages and matches.”

“We aren’t complacent with losing,” added Giuliano. “Last year, if we played hard and played a good match but didn’t win, it was okay. Now, we’re never happy losing, it’s definitely a step up from last year.”

Giuliano, who began playing squash her freshman year, noted the competition and vigor that accompanies practices this year.

“It’s great to have good competition in practices these days; it challenges us to get better,” she said. “I only picked squash up at Wesleyan, and it’s my teammates I learn from. They teach me things I don’t know and we feed off of each other.”

The Cardinals are now preparing to host this weekend’s Wesleyan Round Robin. They will play George Washington on Friday at 7:30 p.m. before facing off against Connecticut College and Wellesley for the second time on Saturday.

“Each match up is different and, now we have seen their team in action, we can very specifically look at how to challenge each of their players,” said Coach Shona Kerr of the weekend rematch with Wellesley.

The team will close out the weekend’s Round Robin on Sunday with a match against Smith. It will be the first match between the Cardinals and the Pioneers since last February, when the visiting Cardinals took a 6-3 victory over Smith.