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The Tufts Daily
Where you read it first | Friday, March 29, 2024

Tufts strings along a win streak leading up to Nationals

Squash-6
Tufts Women's Squash faced off against Wellesley on Jan. 27 at the Zesiger Squash Courts.

Tufts wrapped up its regular season with victories against Boston University (BU), Wesleyan and Vassar College, and is now focusing on the College Squash Association (CSA) Team Nationals this coming weekend. This puts the Jumbos at 12-7 for the season, moving them up to No. 24 in the rankings.

Just two weeks ago, Tufts found itself in a very different situation after losing an 8-1 match to Wellesley College and a 9-0 bout to Colby. The Jumbos have now won their last five matches, finding momentum at just the right time as they head into Nationals.

“Wellesley and Colby were losses, but they weren't unproductive losses,” Zarena Jafry, a first-year, said. “We've only improved in skill and mental strength since those matches, which definitely helped us win our matches this weekend.”

Sophomore Lauren Banner agreed that the team has gotten stronger since that result.

“We had some injuries, but we did the best we could then [against Wellesley and Colby],” Banner said. “Our team has been working really hard these past few weeks on our physical and mental game, coaching and motivating each other. Our team culture gets stronger the more time we spend together and support each other, and I think that plays a big role in our recent successes.”

On Thursday, Tufts recorded a comfortable 9-0 victory over BU, with the ninth matchup defaulted by BU. Of the eight matches played, Tufts recorded comfortable straight-games victories in six of them. Jafry got the momentum going with an 11-5, 11-3, 11-4 victory over BU sophomore Laura Ferreira-Cesar. Perhaps the most impressive victory was that of Jumbo sophomore Chista Irani, who allowed her opponent, junior Jasmine Rishi, just four points in a dominant 11-1, 11-2, 11-1 win in the fourth position. Sophomore Gabi Salomon matched her teammate with an equally impressive win, shutting out senior Chandler Burke in the second position to win 11-5, 11-0, 11-3.

Tufts did not entirely have its way with BU though, as first-year Isabella Libassi was pushed to a fifth game by BU sophomore Anisha Nawalrai. Libassi claimed the first two games before being pegged back by Nawalrai in the next two. Libassi eventually claimed the deciding game to win 11-2, 11-7, 8-11, 12-14, 11-2.

Saturday saw a rematch of the NESCAC face-off between Tufts and Wesleyan, which went the way of Tufts again by the same scoreline 5-4. Wesleyan came out strong in the first three positions, looking to get some payback for their defeat a week earlier. Tufts senior captain Paget Stanco was unable to avenge her NESCAC loss to sophomore Laila Samy, as she lost 11-0, 11-1, 11-4. However, Wesleyan senior Liza Bayless was able to do just that as she beat Jafry 11-5, 11-6, 4-11, 11-7 in the second position.

Both first-year Sahana Karthik and sophomore Claudia Udolf racked up victories for the Jumbos. Karthik defeated sophomore Tatum Leclair 11-4, 11-5, 7-11, 11-9 in the fourth position, while Udolf dispatched first-year Alexandra Imperiale 11-3, 11-6, 11-4. Banner was one of the other victors in the afternoon, beating junior Abigail Smith 14-12, 11-9, 9-11, 3-11, 11-3. Victories by Irani and Salomon made sure the Jumbos beat the Cardinals for the second straight weekend.

“We beat Wesleyan again this weekend 5-4, but it was definitely a different match, as it wasn't the same five girls who won,” Jafry said. “I won my match last weekend and lost this weekend, for example, and I'm lucky to have such competitive teammates that I can rely on to come through and win their matches when I struggle with my own. In each match against Wesleyan we heavily relied on each other as teammates.”

Tufts then made three wins out of three when it then saw off the challenge of Vassar College later in the day, 7-2. The Jumbos lost in the first two positions, but were able to rack up victories in all the other matches. Sophomore Hannah Nice defeated Stanco in the opening match 11-5, 11-7, 11-9, while Jafry was unable to come away with victory in the second spot in a close match-up against her Vassar classmate Fiona Agger, losing in a long five-game battle.

Nonetheless, the Jumbos came through in the other games; first-year Hannah Burns beat fellow rookie Jiamin Wu 11-3, 11-2, 11-1, while Karthik recorded her second victory of the weekend, topping junior Isabelle Bertram 11-5, 11-7, 11-3. The weekend's success was then capped off by first-year Lily Hayes in the eighth position as she topped senior Steph Zhu 12-10, 11-3, 12-10, and by sophomore Nellie Harvey in the ninth position as she came from behind to beat sophomore Kelly Rissman 6-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-7.

“Some of the last few matches were very close, in terms of the number of games Tufts won and also in terms of the set score of each player,” Karthik said. “There was some really great squash, and this puts us both physically and mentally in a very good place.”

Tufts is now gearing up to play Amherst in the CSA Team Nationals at Yale University on Friday. Banner, like the rest of the team, is looking forward to the challenge.

“It's only up from here; there are some teams that we played earlier in the season that we would love to get revenge upon in the rematch,” Banner said. “We are working on perfecting our shots and movement this week as well as our outcomes under pressure. I am constantly impressed with my teammates, and with some confidence and determination I really believe we could cause some upsets this weekend. The goal is to play some great squash, win as much as possible, and enjoy it. We're exactly where we want to be.”