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Women's Squash Wins Fifth Straight, Takes Momentum Into Trinity Showdown
February 14, 2016 | Women's Squash
Seniors Rachel Leizman and Tara Harrington, both of whom were starters when Princeton won the 2013 Ivy League championship, were both winners Sunday. Leizman didn't drop a single game en route to a 3-0 win at the No. 3 spot during the opening shift, while Harrington helped close the match with a 3-1 win at No. 7. Harrington shared some thoughts on her match below.
Sophomore Olivia Fiechter played a highly competitive match at No. 1 against Tanvi Khanna; Fiechter, the reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Year, took the match 11-8, 8-11, 11-9, 11-9.
Princeton will close its regular season with a huge showdown against fourth-ranked Trinity next Saturday on the Jadwin Squash Courts. The match will be streamed live on the Ivy League Digital Network.
TIGER THOUGHTS:
Senior Tara Harrington
We knew that today's match against Columbia was going to be challenging especially not having home court advantage. I am proud of how everyone played and fought overall to pull out a 7-2 victory today. Playing at the #7 position today, I won my match in 4 games. I lost a close first game but managed to adjust my game by going back to the basics of just establishing good length and patiently working my opponent around the court. I've learned how critical it is to be able to adjust point by point. I'm super excited with how everyone is playing at the moment and am hoping to carry this momentum into our last match against Trinity next Saturday at home and then the Howe Cup the following weekend.
Junior Maria Elena Ubina
I was pretty happy with our 7-2 win against Columbia today. They have quite a strong team this year and I think this was a good win to lead us into our final match against Trinity next weekend. I'm hoping we can keep up the intensity for another great match.
Sophomore Olivia Fiechter
Columbia is one of the handful of teams that has really climbed in the rankings in the last few years, so while we've had comfortable wins against them in the past, we knew they were going to be stronger than the last time we played them so it was important not to underestimate them. I think it took everyone some time to adjust to the courts and figure out how to play their opponent, but once everyone settled in I think everyone produced some great squash and are feeling good about how they're playing as we approach nationals. I had never played the girl that I played so I didn't really know what to expect. She was very fast and had a strong short game as well, so I had to be really patient and tried to vary the pace as much as I could. Every game was close so it could've easily gone the other way but I'm happy I was able to step up and play the tough rallies at the end of each game well enough to get the win.
PRINCETON 7, COLUMBIA 2
1 - Olivia Fiechter (P) d. Tanvi Khanna 8, (8), 9, 9
2 - Maria Elena Ubina (P) d. Maddie O'Connor 10, 6, 7
3 - Rachel Leizman (P) d. Reyna Pacheco 6, 6, 6
4 - Colette Sultana (C) d. Lindsey Scott (8), 9, 8, 10
5 - Catherine Jenkins (C) d. Alexandra Toth 8, 9, 6
6 - Samanthat Chai (P) d. Maya Patel 2, 1, (5), 6
7 - Tara Harrington (P) d. Leah Barnet (10), 11, 2, 8
8 - Isabel Hirshberg (P) d. Addie Fulton 3, 8, 5
9 - Gabriella Garr (P) d. Diana Masch 4, 4, 3