Princeton University Athletics
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Harvard Tops Princeton Women's Squash 6-3
February 06, 2005 | Women's Squash
Feb. 7, 2005
PRINCETON - One season after winning a pair of thrillers against the Harvard women's squash team, the Princeton Tigers found themselves on the wrong end of a tight finish. Despite a trio of wins from Princeton freshmen, the Crimson left the Jadwin Courts with a 6-3 win.
Princeton was in decent shape after the first rotation, winning two of the four even matches. A pair of freshmen, Lena Neufeld (No. 4) and Margaret Kent (No. 6) went into decisive fifth games and came out victorious. Neufeld dropped her first two games 9-7 and 9-1 before battling back for 10-8, 9-7 and 9-3 wins.
"Lena Neufeld played an impressive five-gamer," head coach Gail Ramsay said. "She dropped the first two games to find herself in a must-win situation. She held Duboc off in the third game in a close 10-8 win and finally found her length. She was controlling the T better.Her patience was wonderful while she worked the Harvard player around the court.Lena never let up and keep to her plan. It was a truly great performance." Kent opened with a 9-1 win but lost the next two games 9-5 and 9-5. The Tiger rookie earned the momentum back with a 9-6 win and finished the match with a 9-5 win.
Harvard got a 3-2 win at No. 2 and a 3-1 win at No. 8, and then the Crimson jumped on Princeton in the final rotation. The Crimson dropped only two games total in the Nos. 1-5 matches, and Stephanie Hendricks topped Franny McKay 3-2 at No. 9.
All was not lost in the final matches, though, as freshman Carly Grabowski won a five-game thriller of her own. She defeared Allison Fast 3-2, clinching the match with a 9-0 fifth game.
"Freshman Carly Grabowski played another great match for us," Ramsay said. "She struggled to find her length at times, but finally in the fifth game, she was able to control the ball and shut her Harvard opponent down to take the game 9-0."
"Harvard played us very tough," Ramsay said of the overall match. "I was impressed with their upperclassman depth (7-9).I think we could have pulled some more wins out of there but I take my hat off to them, they played very well were very determined to end up on top."
Princeton will face Trinity College next Saturday before preparing to host the Howe Cup championships from Feb. 18-20.
Harvard 6, Princeton 3
1 - Kyla Grigg (H) def. Claire Rein-Weston 3-1 (9-7, 3-9, 9-3, 9-5)
2 - Lindsey Wilkins (H) def. Marilla Hiltz 3-2 (9-7, 9-1, 7-9, 6-9, 9-7)
3 - Jennifer Blumberg (H) def. Genevieve Lessard 3-1 (9-6, 5-9, 9-7, 9-4)
4 - Lena Neufeld (P) def. Audrey Duboc 3-2 (7-9, 1-9, 10-8, 9-7, 9-3)
5 - Supriya Balekar (H) def. Christina Fast 3-0 (9-6, 9-2, 9-0)
6 - Margaret Kent (P) def. Lydia Williams 3-2 (9-1, 5-9, 5-9, 9-6, 9-5)
7 - Carly Grabowski (P) def. Allison Fast 3-2 (9-1, 4-9, 9-2, 3-9, 9-0)
8 - Hilary Thorndike (H) def. Anina Nolan 3-1 (9-4, 10-9, 7-9, 9-6)
9 - Stephanie Hendricks (H) def. Franny McKay 3-2 (9-3, 9-2, 9-10, 8-10, 9-5)