Friday marked the first day of the 2008 Howe Cup, which was held at Harvard, for the women’s squash team. The Cardinals were seeded fifth in the “C” division and opened the weekend with a 5-4 victory over Columbia, avenging a 7-2 loss in the Vassar Team Challenge the previous weekend.
“[We were] excited to play them in the first round of the Nationals,” said Casey Simchik ’10.
Three Cardinals, Jenny Chu ’11, Katie Kalafus ’09 and Rachael Ghorbani ‘09, swept their matches, Chu at number six, Kalafus at number seven and Ghorbani at number nine. Wesleyan’s depth was critical to the Cardinals’ victory, as the bottom five players went 4-1 to help secure the win. In addition to Chu, Kalafus and Ghorbani, graduate student Keera Bhandari had a 3-1 win at number five. Liz Demakos ’09 had the fifth win for the Cardinals, grabbing a 3-1 decision in the third spot.
On Saturday, the fifth-seeded Cardinals battled number-one Amherst. Wesleyan began the match with a national ranking of 21 as the Cards prepared to meet Amherst for the third time this season. Wesleyan entered the match with two previous losses to NESCAC and Little Three rival Amherst, 6-3 and 7-2, but looked for an upset. Wesleyan was supported with three 3-0 victories from Bhandari, Kalafus and Ghorbani, but the Cardinals fell to the Lord Jeffs, 6-3.
Wesleyan battled Vassar in an effort to become ranked 19th nationally on Sunday. Only one week earlier, Vassar had beaten the Cardinals 6-3 in the Vassar Team Challenge. The Cards were anchored again by wins from the bottom half of their ladder. Caroline Fox ’12 stepped up for the team and secured a 3-0 win for the Cardinals at the eighth spot. Ghorbani also continued her impressive individual run with a default win to make her final record 12-4, the second best winning percentage on the team. Although Fox dominated in her match, the successful efforts from the eighth and ninth seeds were not enough, and Amherst secured a 7-2 victory over the Cardinals. Andrea Guiliano ’09 and Kalafus, competing in the fourth and seventh spots, respectively, each played close matches but fell in 3-2 heartbreakers. Wesleyan ended the weekend in fourth place in the “C” division and finalized its national ranking of 20th.
The team wrapped up the dual-match season with a final record of 12-15, continuing its steady improvement under head coach Shona Kerr. Wesleyan finished 7-21 in 2005-06, Kerr’s first season at the helm, before going 7-16 in 2006-07 and 11-16 last season.
“We ended this season on a high note,” Simchik said. “We finished 20th in the nation, which is a huge jump from our ranking of 27th at the end of last year. We improved a lot this season and we are going to certainly miss the seven seniors.”
Graduation will certainly deal a significant blow to the Cardinals’ roster, but the future remains bright for the Cardinals. In addition to number-one seed Simchik and number-two seed Gwynne Hunter ’10, Wesleyan returns a strong group of underclassmen, led by Chu and Fox, who will look to continue lifting the Cardinals to new heights next season.
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