Women’s Squash Falls in College Championships

This weekend, the women’s squash team traveled to compete in the second division of the College Squash Association Team Championship – a daunting task, given their low seeding. At the Kellner Squash Center at Trinity, the Mammoths faced top-seeded Dartmouth in the first round and performed valiantly in a 9-2 loss.

One of those wins came from Lilly Soroko ’22 who played at the number three slot. The second win came from Margaret Werner ’21, who played in the number eight slot.

Both of Amherst’s wins were long, hard-fought matches. Werner’s match against Dartmouth’s Julia Potter went to five games. Werner managed to win the first two games easily, 12-10 and 11-7. However, Potter was able to gain momentum in the third game, winning one point after another to decimate Werner by a 10-point margin. She then beat Werner in the fourth game, 11-8. The fifth game was the longest of the day, tallying a total of 26 points. Werner was able to outlast her opponent over several exhausting rallies, however, winning 14-12.

Similarly, Soroko was able to win in a four-game match against her opponent Brynn Bank, losing the first game 11-8, but quickly responding with 11-5 and 11-7. The last game was a nail biter, with every point seemingly lasting longer than the one before until Soroko finally claimed the match, 12-10. This was her ninth win this season.

Dartmouth won the remaining seven matches. Of those seven, the Mammoths were only able to win one game. Priya Sinha ’19 lost her two first games to Junnat Anwar in the number six spot but was able to come back in the third game to keep the match alive. However, Anwar was able to keep her composure, beating Sinha in the fourth game by a handsome seven-point margin.

Dartmouth went on to beat Brown, but lost to Cornell 6-3 in the final match. Cornell took home the Kurtz Cup.

After the Mammoths fell to Dartmouth in their quarterfinal bout, the team was not able to manage Williams’ and George Washington University’s squash teams as they lost both consolation matches. Williams went on to win the consolation bracket against Middlebury.

Just as they lost to Dartmouth, Amherst was only able to take two games against their rival Williams. Werner had a great weekend, winning both of her matches. She went up against Alexandra Pear in the eighth spot where she took all three games. Pierson Klein ’20 won in five games against her opponent Kathryn Wright. She badly lost the first two games (4-11, 2-11), but came back to win the next two 11-7 and 11-9. The fifth game was the longest of them all, as they tend to be. She was able to finish off the match with an 11-9 victory, giving her 10th victory on the season as a whole.

Much closer than the other two matches, the Mammoths finished the CSA Team Championship by losing to George Washington, 5-4. George Washington took the top half of the ladder and Amherst the bottom half.

Klein also got her second win of the tournament, beating her opponent 12-10, 11-2, 11-7. All of George Washington’s wins in the top four spots of the ladder were relatively close. Soroko lost 13-11, 11-7, 11-7 while Caroline Conway ’20 lost 11-6, 11-0, 11-3.

The Mammoths finish the season with an 8-11 record. The team, however, can be proud of moving up a division into the second tier and competing valiantly.