Trinity Trumps Harvard, 7-2, in Crimson’s First Loss of Season

The Harvard women’s squash team (5-1, 3-0 Ivy) opened the second half of its season with a deceptively close 2-7 loss to No. 5 Trinity (12-2) Wednesday evening in Hartford, Conn.

The Bantams were the first top-5 team that the Crimson had faced after a relatively soft early season schedule.

With the loss, Harvard fell from the ranks of the unbeaten with the toughest stretch of the season still ahead.

“With exams and shopping period, I felt we were a little slow out of blocks,” head coach Satinder Bajwa said. “But I am proud of the team and how they played. I felt it was a match we could have won.”

A few key games here and there and it very well might have been a victory.

Three of the seven losing matches went to a fifth and deciding set that had a Crimson player won would have turned a 7-2 Trinity triumph into a 5-4 Harvard victory.

2007 All-Ivy League senior Supriya Balsekar returned to action for the first time this season following a hip injury that had kept her sidelined.

However, Balsekar struggled to find her form, playing down in the seventh flight and falling in a close match 3-2, despite having two match points in the fourth set.

“I couldn’t move too well and had to shoot and hope for the best,” Balsekar said. “Hopefully I’ll turn things around by the Howe Cup in a couple of weeks and we will get them back.”

Sophomore No. 4 Johanna Snyder lost a heartbreaker 3-2, concluding in a tightly-contested 5-9 fifth set.

Sophomore No. 8 Charlene Neo also fell 3-2 to end a streak of 4 consecutive victories.

Freshmen No. 2 Alisha Mashruwala and No. 5 Bethan Williams fell in straight sets 3-0 to record their first losses on the season.

Freshman No. 1 June Tiong fell 3-1 to Lauren Polonich, who is ranked No. 4 in the nation.

“We are a winning program and don’t like to lose as coaches and as players,” Bajwa said. “But our team spirit is incredibly strong and I am very proud of the way the team is performing.”

The Crimson’s two wins came from freshman No. 6 Alexandra Zindman 3-0 and No. 9 sophomore Sandra Mumanachit, who rallied from two sets down to win 3-2.

With the victories, both Zindman and Mumanachit moved to 6-0 on the season to lead the team in wins.

While the loss was a rather rude awakening after a two month off-season, Harvard’s schedule does not get any easier.

No. 2-ranked Penn travels to Cambridge on Saturday followed by No. 1-ranked Princeton on Sunday. The Crimson wraps up its regular season next Wednesday against the No. 4-ranked Lady Bulldogs of Yale in New Haven to complete a tour of the top 5.

The season-ending Howe Cup will take place in Princeton New Jersey February 22-24.

“This weekend we will be up against the wall,” Bajwa said of the upcoming matches. “But I think with a couple of days of rest and practice we will be ready.”

Harvard takes on the Quakers at the Barnaby Courts on Saturday at noon.

—Staff writer Barrett P. Kenny can be reached at bpkenny@fas.harvard.edu.