The women’s squash team struggled through its second weekend of competition, dropping five of six matches at the Wesleyan Round Robin tournament.
Newcomer Lauren Russman ’09 posted the Cardinals’ best individual record of the weekend, going 5-1 in the number eight position. The weekend’s play pushed Wesleyan’s record to 1-6 on the season with just one match remaining before the break for final exams.
The Round Robin featured an ambitious schedule for all teams involved, as each team played multiple matches per day over the course of three days. Wesleyan opened with matches against St. Lawrence University and Colby College Friday evening.
In their opening match against St. Lawrence, the Cardinals got wins at the one, two, and three positions by Casey Simchik ’10 (3-0), Gwynne Hunter ’10 (3-1), and Andrea Giuliano ’09 (3-0), respectively. St. Lawrence, however, swept the four through nine matches while dropping only one game along the way to earn a 6-3 victory.
The Cardinals were back on the court shortly after the conclusion of the St. Lawrence match to face a strong Colby squad. Russman earned her first win of the weekend with a 3-0 victory, but Colby dropped just three games combined in the other eight matches en route to an 8-1 victory over Wesleyan.
The Cardinals returned for a match against George Washington University Saturday morning before taking on Wellesley College later that afternoon. The match against George Washington was a near duplicate of the Colby match the night before, as Russman won 3-0 and George Washington swept the remaining matches for an 8-1 victory. Russman continued her winning ways against Wellesley, and Simchik added a win at the number one position, but the Cardinals dropped the match 7-2.
Sunday saw improved play from the Cardinals, as they earned their first victory of the season with a 7-2 victory over Smith College in the morning before dropping a tough match to Connecticut College 5-4 in the afternoon.
The victory over Smith included the first career victory for Keera Bhandari ’08, while Russman won again to improve her record to 5-1 in the first six matches of her career. Bhandari and Russman won again in the afternoon against Conn., while Margaux Weisman ’09 and Caroline Janin ’08 each earned their second victory of the day. Conn. dropped just one game in the other five matches, however, to pull out the 5-4 victory.
While the Cardinals managed just one victory during the weekend, they showed improvement and great resolve with strong play on Sunday. Russman and Bhandari represent two of six non-freshmen newcomers to the team.
“This weekend was a great growth weekend for our team,” Giuliano said. “We played great competition and fought hard in all of our matches. The results never can truly show how the match was played, and the results were not in our favor. But our team should be proud of how we did.”
With continued experience at the competitive collegiate level, the Cardinals should gain even more contribution from this crop of new players. Further, the return of last year’s number three player, Liz Demakos ’09, from abroad following the break should solidify the Cardinals’ roster.
The Cardinals close out their first semester schedule with a home match against Vassar College on Wednesday.
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