Princeton University
Cornell
Players Mentioned
Women's Squash Earns 5-4 Thriller Over Cornell
November 22, 2009 | Women's Squash
Despite missing a trio of All-America seniors, the Princeton women's squash team made sure it got its 2009-10 Ivy League squash season off on the right foot. A trio of tight wins led the Tigers to a 5-4 win over the Cornell Big Red.
One day after a disappointing loss to Stanford, Princeton used both youth and experience to jump start its league season with a thriller. The winner of two of the last three Ivy League championships, the Tigers got three wins from players who were not part of last year's varsity ladder and two wins from some of their more experienced players.
"They were determined after Saturday to really play their game," head coach Gail Ramsay said. "I was really impressed with the effort while being down three of our top players. It was quite a performance from one through nine. Casey Cortes played a very competitive, very strong match to win at number seven, and Vanessa had her best performance against a very steady and hard-hitting opponent."
Princeton got 3-0 victories from freshman No. 1 Julie Cerullo and No. 3 Kaitlin Sennatt, a senior tri-captain and starter on all three Howe Cup championship teams. Senior Vanessa Yu, who has developed her game while playing behind some of the Tigers' best players, won the biggest match of her career with a tight 11-9, 11-7, 9-11, 11-8 victory at No. 6.
Cortes also won the biggest match of her varsity career, although that career has lasted a total of 48 hours. The Tiger freshman also battled through a hard-fought match and took an 11-8, 11-4, 7-11, 12-10 victory.
"I was a little nervous coming in," Cortes said. "It was hard after yesterday with that tough loss, but we pulled together. Things are looking up for the rest of the season."
The longest match of the day was played at the No. 2 spot. After Princeton junior Jackie Moss opened the match with 9-4 and 9-6 wins, Cornell's Jaime Laird battled back to force a fifth game. Moss was resilient at the end and pulled out the 11-9 victory.
"I thought our team played really well," Moss said. "We overcame some adversity and battled really hard. We had some very strong performances from our younger players. I'm very proud of our team."
"We were really looking to step up today and learn from our mistakes against Stanford," Sennatt said. "We had some new players, so people had to step up. Today gave us a taste of what is possible for the season."
Princeton 5, Cornell 4
1 - Julie Cerullo (P) d. Jennifer Gemmell 5, 4, 5
2 - Jackie Moss (P) d. Jaime Laird 4, 6, (9), (7), 9
3 - Kaitlin Sennatt (P) d. Shivangi Paranjpe 11, 10, 8
4 - Liza Stokes (C) d. Nikki Sequeira 9, (5), 3, 6
5 - Rebecca Hazell (C) d. Katie Giovinazzo 9, 7, 6
6 - Vanessa Yu (P) d. Lauren Sachvie 9, 7, (9), 8
7 - Casey Cortes (P) d. Rachel Wagner 8, 4, (7), 10
8 - Maggie Remsen (C) d. Eliza Kontulis 1, 4, 4
9 - Clare Berner (C) d. Alice Fuller 1, 4, 3