After victories over Smith College and Connecticut College, Wesleyan lost to the University of Virginia by a score of 7-2 in the finals of the Howe Cup’s “D” division national tournament. The loss leaves Wesleyan’s final record at 11-16 and a national ranking of 26.
The Cardinals opened play on Friday evening when they defeated Smith College for the fourth time this season, by a score of 8-1. In their eight victories, the Cardinals dropped just three games en route to sweeping six of those eight matches. The victory moved the Cardinals into the semifinals, where they would meet Conn. College for the fourth time this season.
Several of Wesleyan’s most exciting matches this season were played against Conn. College and the Howe Cup semifinal match continued that trend. With the Cards’ top three players dropping their matches, the back end of the roster came through with five victories to push the Cardinals to a 5-4 victory. Liz Demakos ’09, Keera Bhandari ’08, Katie Kalafus ’09, Nina Wasserman ’10 and Jenny Chu ’11 all picked up victories for Wesleyan.
The finals featured a match up of the two top ranked teams in the “D” division, with Wesleyan taking on the University of Virginia. The winner of the match would end the season ranked 25 in the country, with the loser dropping to 26. Virginia put on an impressive performance, sweeping five matches on its way to a 7-2 victory and the “D” division title. While Chu was given a victory by default in the nine spot, Wasserman won her match 3-1 (9-0, 9-6, 5-9, 9-4) to complete her perfect record in the Howe Cup, the only Cardinal to accomplish that feat. Demakos played an exciting match in the four spot, losing an exciting match 3-1 (7-9, 9-2, 10-8, 10-8).
For a roster filled with newcomers, the Cardinals showed tremendous improvement over the course of the season.
“This weekend was a great ending to a long and successful season,” said captain Andrea Giuliano ’09. “We played the best we could this weekend and took second in the ’D’ division. Our team has improved so much over the season and has worked hard in every match. We wanted to win it all, but we are excited with how it went and even more excited for next season.”
Bhandari led the Cardinals with 14 victories to 13 losses in just her first season of competitive squash. Wasserman joined Bhandari with an above .500 mark of 8-6 playing mostly in the eighth and ninth positions. Two half-season players also had impressive seasons, with Lauren Russman ’09 going 6-2 prior to studying abroad and Demakos going 11-8 following her return from abroad. Casey Simchik ’10 played every match in the number one spot and thus spent the season taking on the best players in the region. Her final mark of 10-17 remains a testament of her own great talent.
The Cardinals will only lose two of the team’s twelve consistently contributing members, making them a team to be reckoned with next winter.
Leave a Reply