Princeton University
Trinity
Players Mentioned
Women's Squash Tops No. 3 Trinity, Prepares For Showdown With No. 1 Penn
January 29, 2007 | Women's Squash
Inspired by a dramatic rally at No. 4 and a dominant run in the middle and bottom of the lineup, the Princeton women's squash team remained perfect during the 2006-07 season with a 6-3 victory over Trinity Monday afternoon at the Jadwin Squash Courts. Princeton improves to 4-0 with the win, while Trinity falls to 9-1.
Due to its limited amount of matches in the early part of the season, the most recent national rankings listed preseason No. 1 Princeton as the No. 5 team in the country. That ranking could go up dramatically this week, and the Tigers began it well with their strong win over No. 3 Trinity. A senior-laden Princeton team, the women knew they needed to start their post-exam break with some momentum.
“It's impossible to know how we'd play,” head coach Gail Ramsay said. “After exams, there is that mental relief, but is there a physical exhaustion of staying up doing school work, constant practice, challenge matches and all that? We talked about the need to come out fighting, the need to play tenacious.”
The players heard Ramsay loud and clear.
“Princeton played great,” Trinity head coach Wendy Bartlett said afterwards. “There is incredible depth to their lineup. Those players just got the job done.”
Playing a two-shift format, Princeton held a 3-1 lead when the even matches concluded. Juniors Casey Riley and Carly Grabowski cruised to 3-0 victories at the No. 6 and 8 spots, respectively. For Grabowski, the win kept her perfect career record in regular-season dual matches intact. Riley had the most dominant performance of the early matches, dropping only five points in the match.
Trinity got on the board when Lauren Polonich defeated Neha Kumar 5-9, 9-4, 9-0, 9-1 at No. 2. At that point, it looked like Trinity could escape the first session with a 2-2 split, as Jo-Ann Jee held a 2-1 lead at No. 4 over senior Gen Lessard, who was playing in her first match after missing the 2006 portion of the schedule with an injury. The Princeton veteran had other ideas, though, and sprinted to a 9-1 win in the fourth game. With an array of powerful strokes, she controlled the early points of the fifth game and jumped out to another big lead. Jee fought valiantly to try and get back in the game, but the experienced Lessard never let it get close and put the match away with a 9-3 fifth game.
“That was a big win for us,” Ramsay said. “For her to be playing her first match of the year and win like that was important. She had more variety of shots and played a strong match.”
That win ignited a quick Princeton run that ultimately clinched the win before the match concluded. Freshman Kaitlin Sennatt dominated 9-2, 9-3, 9-0 at No. 9 and senior Marilla Hiltz won a 9-1, 9-2, 9-4 decision at No. 7 to claim the team victory for the Tigers. Fellow senior Ali Pearson split the first two games of her match but built big leads in the final two to claim a 3-1 win for Princeton's sixth win of the day.
Senior No. 1 Claire Rein-Weston nearly pulled out a win, but she showed plenty in defeat. Playing against Vaidehi Reddy, one of the top players in the country, Rein-Weston pushed her deep into the first game before losing 10-9, and came back to rout the Trinity senior 9-1 and 9-0 in the next two games. Reddy won the fourth game and built an early lead in the fifth, but Rein-Weston again pushed forward and tied the it at 5-5. Reddy came up with the final four points, but it was a positive sign for a senior entering the biggest month of her career.
“I thought Claire played one of her best matches ever,” Ramsay said. “She doesn't have a major Top-8 win in her career, so maybe she just wasn't ready to pull it out. Next time, she'll know she's been here, and she can get it done. It was a good start for the rest of the season.”
Freshman Amanda Siebert played a tough five-game match at No. 3 but fell to Ashley Clackson to conclude the 6-3 Tiger win.
Princeton will now get its shot at the No. 1 team in the country, Penn, Wednesday night at 7 p.m., following the men's 5 p.m. match with Penn. The Quakers are coming off a 6-3 victory over Trinity last weekend, and the scores of the two matches are quite similar. Penn dropped the top three matches, including 3-2 decisions at both No. 1 and No. 3, but swept the final six matches to claim a 6-3 victory.
“It looks pretty even,” Ramsay said. “Down the line, one through nine, nobody really stands out as a clear favorite. We could win all nine, and we could lose all nine. It's going to be a matter of playing our best matches and fighting for wins.”
PRINCETON 6, TRINITY 3
1 – Vaidehi Reddy (T) def. Claire Rein-Weston 10-9, 1-9, 0-9, 9-3, 9-5
2 – Lauren Polonich (T) def. Neha Kumar 5-9, 9-4, 9-0, 9-1
3 – Ashley Clackson (T) def. Amanda Siebert 9-5, 7-9, 7-9, 9-5, 9-2
4 – Gen Lessard (P) def. Jo-Ann Jee 9-5, 5-9, 2-9, 9-1, 9-3
5 – Ali Pearson (P) def. Tehani Guruge 2-9, 9-6, 9-2, 9-3
6 – Casey Riley (P) def. Siobhan Knight 9-1, 9-4, 9-0
7 – Marilla Hiltz (P) def. Fernanda Rocha 9-1, 9-2, 9-4
8 – Carly Grabowski (P) def. Emily Paton 9-5, 9-7, 9-4
9 – Kaitlin Sennatt (P) def. Kimbley Palterman 9-2, 9-3, 9-0