Women’s Squash Falls to Williams on National Stage

Middlebury women’s squash spent their extended weekend in Cambridge, Massachusetts competing in the national tournament for the “B” division’s “Kurtz Cup.”  Teams ranked ninth through sixteenth play for the Kurtz Cup on the season’s final weekend.

The Panthers entered the tournament ranked 13th which meant they had to play twelfth ranked NESCAC rival, Williams in the first round.  Middlebury looked to avenge their two losses to the Ephs earlier in the season Friday evening, but fell by the final tally of six matches to three.

Charlotte Dewey ’15 and Zoe Carey ’16 won in straight sets for the Panthers.  Dewey won 11 to one, 11 to nine and 11 to eight from the third slot and Carey won 11 to seven, 11 to three and 11 to seven in the sixth slot.  Dewey remains the only Panther to collect a team point in all three matches against the Ephs this season while Carey continued to have the hottest hand on the team since returning from her semester abroad in January.

“I believe that I have improved over the course of the season,” Carey said.  “When I first came back from abroad in January, I felt really rusty because I had only played a few times while I was in Argentina.  But because we have been training so hard this winter, I think our whole team has improved.”

The Panthers were certainly frustrated that they could not overtake the Ephs in their third close affair of the season.  Carey added, “Williams has a very strong team and we have always had close matches with them.  Even though we lost to Williams six to three, three of those matches went to five games, so it was incredibly close.  I know that on another day, those matches could have gone our way instead of in favor of Williams.”

Anne Wymard ’15 echoed Carey’s sentiments about the Williams match.

“Talking with [Assistant Coach] Brian [Cady] after the match we both agreed that as a team Williams was stepping forward and trying to end points more quickly than our team ... However, this time around Williams fought our endurance skills by keeping the points short, often shooting first.”

Saturday, the Panthers played in the consolation semifinals against Bates and had the match wrapped up before the snow began.  Highlights in the seven to two dismantling of the Bobcats included all of the Panthers from the fifth through ninth slots winning in straight sets.  Joining the bottom half of the lineup with a straight set victory was Dewey from the third slot, who won 11 to six in her first two sets and then closed out her opponent with an 11 to seven victory in her third set.

Due to the threat of a severe snowstorm in greater Boston Saturday night into Sunday, Sunday’s consolation final match against the Drexel Dragons was cancelled.  The women’s team completes its season with sixteen wins and seven losses.  The men’s team will play in their national tournament this coming weekend in New Haven, Connecticut.