After an injury-laden fall semester, the women's squash team came out looking for a fresh start in the new year. Last weekend, the Jumbos returned to action, taking down the Conn. College Camels 7-2 in New London, Conn. after falling to Yale 0-9 the day before.
The November and December 2008 matches saw the Tufts team without five of its starters. Senior tri-captain Jessica Herrmann was out with a broken rib, while freshmen Mercedes Barba and Alix Michael also suffered injuries. Further depleting the lineup, juniors Stefanie Marx and Katie Stork were spending the semester abroad, leaving gaping holes in the ladder.
"Getting everyone back is huge, especially with [Marx] now filling in as our No. 2," Herrmann said. "Now, [Barba] and I are in the middle of the lineup. That brings players to where they should be playing. With all the injuries, everyone was playing up three spots, and that makes a big difference in squash.
"The team really needed [the win] for morale," Herrmann continued. "After this win, we are really excited for matches to come."
The Jumbos notched wins in the 3-9 spots on the ladder after losing the No. 1 and No. 2 matches. Returning to play just their second matches after being injured, both Barba and Herrmann dominated their opponents at No. 4 and No. 5, respectively, each giving up just one point in their three-game sweeps.
Tufts saw especially thrilling matches from sophomore Valerie Koo and senior Caroline Choi. Koo came back from a first-game loss to take the next three and pull out a four-game victory featuring scores of 6-9, 9-2, 9-4, 10-9.
But undoubtedly the most exciting match came from the No. 8 spot, as Choi battled to victory in five games.
"[Choi] played to her [opponent's] weakness -- her backhand," assistant coach Kelsey Engman said. "She made sure she got back to the 'T' to be ready for anything the girl could hit and put everything back to her backhand. The fifth game was very intense, and I think that's where our fitness came into play. She just outlasted the girl."
Choi pulled out the final game by just two points for a 2-9, 9-6, 5-9, 9-1, 10-8 victory and a much-needed momentum boost.
"When she won 10-8 in the tiebreak in the fifth game, the whole team was celebrating because she stuck in it and did what she had to do to win," senior tri-captain Simone Grant said.
With the victory, Tufts hopes to begin a new chapter late in the season, using this win as a catalyst to spur others.
"The real test is from here to see what we can do," coach Doug Eng said. "Conn. College is the first one under the belt and a step in the right direction."
The win broke a streak of six straight losses to open up the season, the most recent being a defeat on the hands of the Yale Bulldogs on Friday.
The Jumbos drove to Yale with no intention of playing the College Squash Association's (CSA) No. 5-ranked team in the nation, but with the scheduled opponent, Franklin and Marshall, unable to compete, Tufts was matched up with the perennial powerhouse.
Outmatched, Tufts fell in all nine matches, each of them in straight games. Still, Engman commended certain players on particularly strong performances given their challenging opponents.
"[Michael] had a good match," Engman said. "She was definitely competitive, and every point was very close. She was the highlight in that match. [Grant] was also right in every point."
The Yale match marked the end of a difficult schedule for Tufts, which included playing four top-10 opponents in the first seven matches. While the lopsided matches may have been discouraging, the team has managed to take something away from each match thus far.
"It's a learning experience," Herrmann said. "It has been tough to have a season playing so many top-10 teams, but at same time, there are things you can learn from every match. Just watching them play at that level and playing out points with them shows you where you are stronger than you might have thought and what areas you need to work on. You learn a lot about your ability and can get a lot out of the match even if you don't get the win."
From this point on, the Jumbos will face much more evenly matched competition, including Northeastern University this evening. The No. 25-ranked Huskies will host the No. 18-ranked Jumbos in a rematch of a lopsided 8-1 Tufts victory last year. Despite the easy win last December, Tufts will not go into the match feeling overconfident.
"We think it's going to be close," Eng said. "We are confident and I think we have the edge. We have to be mentally very tough, stay on top of the other team and keep the fundamentals."
Swett leads Tufts to statement win over rival MIT
Another meet brought another win this weekend for the one-loss women's swimming and diving team.
The Jumbos made a statement with a 170-130 win over MIT on Saturday, marking the second time the Jumbos have defeated the Engineers this season after beating them out by 41 points at the MIT Invitational in December.
"It was a different setting [compared to the MIT Invitational] with this meet as the traditional dual meet style," senior tri-captain Katie Swett said. "The meet was close on talent, and we had some incredible swims. The invitational-style meet tests how much depth a team has, but the dual meet style this weekend tested how much concentrated talent, so it was kind of a different arena."
Swett led the Jumbos, winning three individual events on the day along with a relay. She was backed by sophomore Megan Kono and junior diver Lindsay Gardel, each of whom took home two first-place finishes.
Swett helped Tufts start the meet off on the right foot, teaming with fellow senior Michelle Caswell, sophomore Maureen O'Neill and freshman Valerie Eacret to win the 400-yard medley relay in 4:08.61. Swett won the 100 breaststroke and the 200 breaststroke as well. Her third individual victory of the day came in the last individual event, a win in the 400 IM in 4:47.54.
Kono got the first individual win of the day in the 1,000 freestyle, besting fellow Jumbo junior Meredith Cronin. The sophomore, who qualified for the NCAA Championships in three events last year, showed why she is a force in the longer distance freestyle events with another win, this time in the 500 free.
"Even if we don't have the best times right now, it will come," senior tri-captain Kayla Burke said. "And we still have some amazing times; we had some girls do personal bests, and that is awesome during the season because our bodies are broken down ... You just push through, and that makes you stronger for the rest of the season."
Gardel, last week's NESCAC co-Performer of the Week, once again dominated on the diving board. The All-American junior had her best day of the season, dominating both the 1-meter and 3-meter events with scores of 281.50 and 264.55, respectively. Gardel's classmate Kelsey Bell also put forth a solid performance in the diving events, picking up a third-place finish in the 1-meter and a second in the 3-meter.
Cronin also racked up the points for the Jumbos, finishing behind Kono for second in the 1000 free but truly shining in the backstroke events. She won the 100-yard event and was involved in the closest race of the day, falling behind early to Engineer freshman Allison Alwan in the 200 backstroke before coming up just short in a valiant comeback and losing by one hundredth of a second.
Tufts got solid contributions from a number of first-year swimmers. Annie Doisneau led a sweep of the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:58.28, besting classmates Eacret and Katie Russell. Russell also added second place finishes in the 500 freestyle and the 200 butterfly, followed in the latter by Doisneau.
"A lot of the freshmen, they did a lot," Burke said. "It was hard -- two of the freshmen actually had to swim in the 200 free and then get back on the blocks in the 200 fly. There are no complaints; they just do it. And it's stuff like that that is inspirational to watch."
Senior Jen Chao and sophomore Amy Jacobi, both of whom finished with two individual wins, led MIT. Chao won both the 100 and 200 butterfly, while Jacobi excelled in the sprints with wins in the 50 and 100 freestyle, both times beating out O'Neill. Still, Tufts' overall strength showed in this victory.
"It definitely steps us up to be more excited going into other meets," Burke said. "We have a really good record going right now, and that motivates us. We have two more meets, and we want to do well in those and be 8-1 at the end of the year. Having that one extra win is a lot better than 7-2."
Even with last week's loss to NESCAC powerhouse Williams in a tri-meet that also included Wesleyan, the Jumbos are enjoying one of their finest seasons in recent memory. The team's record stands at 6-1 heading into their last head-to-head setting of the season next weekend in a tri-meet with Bates and Wheaton. If Tufts beats both opponents, it would be the first time the team finished with only one loss since the 2002-2003 season.
"Williams was a loss in the record book, but it was kind of anticipated," Swett said. "In swimming, a lot of times you will know going in whether they have better swimmers. This meet was pretty close; we are pretty compatible teams, and MIT is a pretty big rival of ours."
Tufts has two meets left before a long layoff prior to the NESCAC championships. Next week will be the last of the dual meets for the season, and the Jumbos will be gunning to earn the 8-1 mark. But more importantly, the team hopes it will continue to improve as championship season looms on the horizon.
"Right now is a time for some of us who have built up our endurance and our stamina for the rest of the season to look at our individual races and little things like turns and starts and the way we swim a race," Swett said. "The meet next weekend will be similar to this week, but soon a lot of us will be tapering and slowing down as we prepare for NESCACs."
