Williams Falls to W. Squash

The No. 7 Williams women’s squash team must be cursing the scheduling gods for lining it up against No. 4 Harvard on Tuesday.

After dropping its first contest of the season to Trinity on Saturday, the Crimson (4-1, 3-0 Ivy) pummeled the ill-fated Ephs (12-6) 9-0 in an encouraging rebound performance.

“We played just basic, good squash,” junior Stephanie Hendricks said.

Harvard polished off Williams in short order, with eight of nine Crimson players winning in three games.

The only match to go beyond three games was at No. 8, where sophomore intercollegiate No. 45 Tina Browne provided some drama in an otherwise routine Harvard victory. After dropping her first game 9-4 and not scoring a point in losing the second 9-0, Browne seemed headed for a quick upset loss at the hands of Williams’ Lexi Lee.

But Browne rallied to claim the final three games 9-6, 9-6, 9-3 in a gutsy performance that co-captain Louisa Hall commended as “awesome.”

Hall, the intercollegiate No. 4, easily dispatched Clare Whipple at No. 1, 9-2, 9-1, 9-0, and said that the match was a good confidence booster for the team after the loss to always-dominating Trinity.

“Nobody’s totally devastated [by the Trinity loss],” Hall said. “It’s important for us to play and stay positive.”

Hall also praised the play of freshmen Audrey Duboc and Lydia Williams, who were bumped up to No. 2 and 3 on the ladder, respectively, with the Crimson’s usual No. 2—junior intercollegiate No. 8 Lindsey Wilkins—absent from the match at a job interview.

“Audrey and Lydia both had to step up, and were amazing,” Hall said.

Duboc, the intercollegiate No. 14, beat Kate Whipple 9-6, 9-2, 9-2, while intercollegiate No. 32 Williams topped Jaye Gregory 9-2, 9-0, 10-8.

Hendricks said that the Williams match offered an opportunity to work out some kinks before this weekend’s contests against traditional Ivy rivals Penn and Princeton.

“I felt comfortable, really solid,” Hendricks said of her 9-5, 9-0, 9-3 win over Lizzie Reifenheiser at No. 7. “This was good for us and good for the next weekend.”

Hendricks had missed several early-season scrimmages due to lingering ankle problems. With her return to health, as well as the return of sophomore Moira Weigel—who played her first match of the season last Thursday at Dartmouth—the mood on the team is confident and upbeat. Weigel beat Andrea Berberian 9-6, 9-7, 9-2 at No. 4 to claim her first win of the season.

“Everybody’s very excited,” Hall said of the upcoming weekend’s matches. “Both should be tests of how much we’ve worked.”

—Staff writer Lisa J. Kennelly can be reached at kennell@fas.harvard.edu.