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Women's Squash Will Try To Repeat History After Falling 8-1 To No. 2 Penn
January 31, 2016 | Women's Squash
Should the two meet again, potentially in a Howe Cup semifinal if both teams win out, the Tigers believe they can turn this result around.
After all, they have a little history on their side.
Last season, Penn defeated Princeton in the Jadwin Squash Courts, but the Tigers flipped that result for a 7-2 win in the third-place match at the Howe Cup Championships.
“Penn has an experienced team but our team had some close matches despite sickness and injury in the past week,” said freshman Samantha Chai, who lost three close sets at the No. 6 position. “The match score isn't representative of how close some individual matches were, including Liv and Tara, who lost but played well against tough opponents.”
Penn took control of Saturday's match with a 4-0 sweep of the opening shift. Princeton senior Tara Harrington nearly got the Tigers on the board — she rallied from 1-0 and 2-1 down with 11-9 wins, but Grace Van Arkel got the upper hand in the fifth for an 11-5 win.
Sophomore Kira Keating got Princeton on the board in dramatic fashion during the second shift. She dropped the opening two games to Haidi Lala, but Keating — who has already shown a knack for handling pressure situations — won the third 11-4, and then grinded out back-to-back 11-9 wins to take it in five.
Unfortunately, Princeton couldn't get any more wins to add to the total. Both Olivia Fiechter (#1) and Isabella Bersani (#9) split their opening games, but both lost 3-1.
Princeton will head to New Haven, Conn., Sunday to take on fourth-ranked Stanford in a neutral-court matchup.
Penn 8, Princeton 1
1 – Reeham Sedky (Penn) d. Olivia Fiechter (6), 6, 3, 6
2 – Anaka Alankamony (Penn) d. Maria Elena Ubina 9, 8, 2
3 – Yan Xin Tan (Penn) d. Rachel Leizman 5, 6, 3
4 – Marie Stephan (Penn) d. Lindsey Scott 5, 7, 7
5 – Rowaida Attia Walid (Penn) d. Alexandra Toth 3, 9, 3
6 – Michelle Wong (Penn) d. Samantha Chai 7, 8, 9
7 – Kira Keating (Princeton) d. Haidi Lala (9), (6), 4, 9, 9
8 – Grace Van Arkel (Penn) d. Tara Harrington 9, (9), 2, (9), 5
9 – Camille Lanier (Penn) d. Isabella Bersani 9, (9), 6, 5