Women's Squash Completes Sweeps Week With 6-3 Win Over Defending National Champion Yale
February 03, 2007 | Women's Squash
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By: Princeton Athletic Communications
It's tough to do much more in one week of the regular season than the Princeton women's squash team did this week. After dispatching of the Nos. 1 and 3 teams at home, the Tigers went on the road and completed the trifecta by downing the No. 2 and defending national champion Yale Bulldogs 6-3 on Saturday. Princeton, who entered the week as the No. 5 team in the country, will likely move to No. 1 and can clinch the Ivy League title next weekend when it hosts Dartmouth and Harvard.
“The team played well today,” head coach Gail Ramsay said. “We started a little nervous, a little tentative, but we came back and played great. Emotionally, after the Penn win on Wednesday, I thought we had to step up and show something, and I was pleased with what we did. It's been a while since we have been favored to beat Yale, and I was pleased to see how we reacted.”
Playing a three-round format, Princeton built a 3-0 lead after one set of matches. Freshman Amanda Siebert, who had to fight through a pair of five-game matches this week, made life much easier on herself by topping Lauren McCrery 10-9, 9-4, 9-2. Fellow freshman Kaitlin Sennatt was dominant against at No. 9, defeating Tara Wadhwa 9-3, 9-0, 9-3.
Yale had a slight opening at No. 6, where Princeton's Casey Riley lost a close 9-8 decision. However, the former Tiger No. 2 showed the resiliency she has built and roared back to overwhelm Nicola Shiels in a 8-9, 9-0, 9-3, 9-0 victory.
Princeton moved to within one match of the win when Ali Pearson, who has been as dominant as anybody throughout the lineup, routed Kate Rapisarda 9-3, 9-2, 9-0 at the No. 5 position. Jessica Balderston kept hope alive for Yale by doing what nobody has done in three years; she defeated Carly Grabowski in a regular season dual meet. Trailing two games to one, Balderston won two close games to claim a 3-9, 9-3, 9-10, 9-7, 9-6 victory.
Miranda Ranieri looked to give Yale full control of momentum by rallying from two games down to even her No. 2 match at 2-2 against Princeton freshman Neha Kumar. Getting her game and stamina back after dealing with illness last week, Kumar put it together in the fifth game for a 9-7, 9-3, 3-9, 5-9, 9-2 win.
“Neha hit great shots at the start, and then got the job done in the fifth game,” Ramsay said of the clincher. “She played the best she did all week.”
Princeton got its sixth win when Marilla Hiltz dominated Sarah Barenbaum 9-4, 9-4, 9-0 to win at No. 7. Her pace was too much, and like the rest of her senior teammates, Hiltz is looking forward to one final chance at the Ivy League title.
Yale got wins from Catherine McLeod and Alia Aziz at Nos. 1 and 4, respectively, to end the match 6-3.
Princeton will open its final home weekend of the season next Saturday when it hosts Dartmouth at 2 p.m.
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