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Top-Ranked Women's Squash Claims Wild Win Over #2 Penn
January 28, 2009 | Women's Squash
Facing several match balls against an opponent she lost 3-0 against last season,
Sennatt's win didn't clinch the win for
The win improves
The match was a back-and-forth affair to start.
On the next court, Penn's Annie Madeira was also controlling play against
That was when the drama began. Sennatt had just rallied from a big deficit in the second game to take a 2-0 lead over Britt Hebden, while Princeton No. 2 Neha Kumar evened her match with Scott at one game apiece. Scott took the third game, while Kumar took the fourth 9-2 and raced out to a 7-1 lead. What looked like a sure Tiger win started to fade as Scott started ripping winners and forcing errors. She won the next eight points for a 9-7 thriller.
At the same time, two things were happening. Sennatt had dropped 10-8 and 9-0 games to move to a 2-2 tie, and Princeton No. 9 Katie Giovinazzo picked up a quick win when Emily Goodwin retired with an injury in the third game. Giovinazzo, the lone
The Sennatt-Hebden match was looming larger and larger, and Penn appeared to have the edge when Hebden moved to a match ball at 8-4.
“When she was at 8, I just wanted to keep the ball in play and keep running,” said Sennatt, a key part of the
Her strategy worked. She kept Hebden off-balance with a mix of deep drives and well-placed drops, and as every point went
Senior tri-captain Aly Brady, who missed last season's drama with a knee injury, rehabbed vigorously over the summer for this kind of opportunity. Playing at the No. 7 position, she split her first two games against Tara Chawla and knew she needed to raise her game.
“After the second game, [assistant coach] Richard Hankinson told me to return to basics,” Brady said. “
The third game went Brady's way, but Chawla didn't back down. The Penn senior went up 5-3 in the fourth, but Brady reached down for one more big run. She took the next six points for the victory, which she called “the biggest of my career.”
Princeton split the final two matches of the night. Junior Emery Maine won a 9-0, 7-9, 9-7, 9-4 to give the Tigers their sixth win, while Penn junior Kristen Lange, one of the top players in the country, earned a 7-9, 9-7, 9-4, 9-2 victory over Princeton junior Amanda Siebert in a well-played No. 1 match.
1) Kristen Lange (Pe) d. Amanda Siebert (7), 7, 4, 2
2) Sydney Scott (Pe) d. Neha Kumar 2, (3), 2, (2), 7
3) Emery Maine (Pr) d. Alisha Turner 0, (7), 7, 4
4) Kaitlin Sennatt (Pr) d. Britt Hebden 5, 10-8, (8-10), (0), 10-8
5) Jackie Moss (Pr) d. Christina Matthias 5, (6), 5, 3
6) Annie Madeira (Pe) d. Maggie O'Toole 3, 3, 1
7) Aly Brady (Pr) d. Tara Chawla 6, (1), 5, 5
8) Nikki Sequeira (Pr) d. Taylor Booth 1, 2, 0
9) Katie Giovinazzo (Pr) d. Emily Goodwin 4, ret.