Tufts concludes season with third-place finish in Walker Cup

In its final weekend of the 2017-2018 season, the Tufts women’s squash team (15–7) competed for the Walker Cup in the C Division of the College Squash Association (CSA) Team Championships at Harvard. Entering the tournament ranked 18th in the nation, the Jumbos were seeded second of the eight teams competing in their bracket. The excitement surrounding the tournament made for an intense weekend of high-level squash. After a quarterfinal victory, Tufts fell to its NESCAC nemesis, Bates, in the semifinals, before winning the third-place match to conclude the season ranked 19th in the country.

"Nationals are always the biggest weekend because that’s the last weekend of the season," junior captain Chista Irani said. "It’s three days of hard squash. We play our toughest competitors in Nationals. We play very close, tight matches, so that thrill gets people going. It’s the environment that surrounds Nationals that makes it a big weekend."

Sophomore Claire Davidson echoed a similar sentiment to that of her captain regarding the excitement surrounding the national tournament.

"We were definitely excited going into the weekend because Nationals were here in Boston," Davidson told the Daily in an email. "We were confident, knowing that we practice at Harvard all the time and the courts are familiar."

On Sunday, Tufts played its third and final match of the tournament against Wesleyan for third place in the C Division bracket. Going into the match, the Jumbos were 1–0 against the Cardinals this season, having won 5–4 on Dec. 2 in Middletown, Conn. Sunday, on a much bigger stage, Tufts defeated Wesleyan for the second time in a decisive 7–2 victory to earn a third-place finish in the Walker Cup.

Davidson played a gritty match against Wesleyan first-year Aditi Prasad in the second position on the ladder. With the score tied 1–1 heading into the third game, Davidson played relentlessly, winning the next two games 14–12, 12–10 to end the match in four games.

"I had lost to my Wesleyan opponent earlier in the season, so it was great to turn that around and finish the season on a high note," Davidson said.

Tufts first-year Rachel Windreich played an extremely close match against Wesleyan sophomore Nina Premutico in the sixth spot.Premutico went up 2–0 after the first two games, but Windreich fought back, winning the next three games 11–5, 11–1, 11–5, to defeat Premutico in five.The Jumbos showcased their strong depth, claiming victories in the bottom six spots on the ladder to key their victory.

The previous day, Tufts faced Bates in the Walker Cup semifinals — the third matchup between the two teams this season. In their first meeting on Jan. 26, the visiting Jumbos fell to the Bobcats, 7–2.When they saw the Bobcats for a second time during the NESCAC tournament on Feb. 4, the Tufts women were again defeated, 6–3.

However, the two prior contests were closer than their results might have indicated, as both matches were hard-fought and went down to the wire, with many of the individual matches lasting five games. To underscore the thin margin between the sides, Tufts and Bates were ranked 18th and 19th in the nation, respectively, heading into CSA Nationals. The Jumbos knew going into Saturday’s contest that they had a solid shot at defeating the Bobcats, but that to do so, they would need to play their best squash of the season.

"Bates is a solid team – we can’t deny it," Irani said. "I definitely do think we are right there."

After its 7–2 quarterfinal win over fellow NESCAC member Hamilton, Bates’ confidence was high going into the match against Tufts. The top half of the Bobcats’ ladder came out strong against the Jumbos, as the Nos. 1–6 matches all ended in Bates victories. First year Chloe Kantor and senior Lauren Banner, playing in the seventh and ninth ladder spots, respectively, both recorded wins for the Jumbos.Kantor defeated Bates junior Molly Brooks in four games (11–6, 11–6, 10–12, 11–6).In her final collegiate match, Banner recorded an 11–5, 11–4, 11–1 win over senior Cata Robert of Bates.Despite a number of close matches that lasted four or five games, Tufts ultimately fell to Bates for the third time this season, 7–2.

Nonetheless, the Jumbos were pleased with their intensity and competitiveness against a very tough opponent.

"Even though the results show that Tufts lost, the matches were very close," Irani said. "I think we tried our best, in terms of stepping up."

On Friday, Tufts faced seventh-seeded St. Lawrence for its first match of the weekend. The Jumbos swept all of their matches against the Saints to handily defeat their opponents, 9–0.

Playing in the first position on the ladder (as she has this entire season), first-year Julie Yeung defeated St. Lawrence junior Alex Infante 11–2, 11–4, 11–4.Davidson played in the second spot for Tufts, facing St. Lawrence first-year Katie Smith.The Newport, R.I. native lost just eight points in her 11–3, 11–5, 11–0 victory. Tufts junior Zarena Jafry also yielded just eight points in defeating first-year Gabrielle Arhens 11–3, 11–4, 11–1 in the third position.

The Jumbos' third-place finish in the C Division of the national tournament was a positive conclusion to what Irani described as a great season for her personally and the team generally.

"I think by far, since my first year, this has been the best season," Irani said. "To start off, we had a very solid recruiting class. Other than that, everyone on the team really stepped up. Teams across the country are getting so competitive, and I think we really stepped up to that — in terms of intensity, strength and focus, but also our team dynamic. It was a very positive season."