For Immediate Release
February 26, 2008
Wellesley Sports Information
Wellesley Squash Goes 1-2 at Howe Cup
PRINCETON, NJ – The Wellesley Blue ended their 2007-2008 season by traveling down to the Howe Cup Championships at Princeton University. The Blue entered the weekend seeded 21st in the nation, and would face Vassar College in the first round on Friday. After loosing to Vassar 9-0 at the Seven Sisters’ Championships, the Blue knew that regardless of the end result, they wished to finish the season on a high point. Each player put forth her best effort on Friday, and the team felt it put up a valiant effort. Number four player Caroline Tall did not join the team until Saturday, so everyone underneath her played up one spot on Friday. The Blue fell to no. 20 Vassar on Friday 9-0.
Saturday the Blue faced no. 23 Northeastern on Saturday at 4:30 pm. Both teams looked forward to the match, as it had been a close 5-4 decision in Wellesley’s favor earlier in the season. After the first round of matches, Northeastern jumped to a 2-1 lead with wins at the no. 9 and no. 3 flights. Geraldine Ng at no. 6 pulled out a 3-1 win over Northeastern’s Francie Shafer. Nos. 8, 5 and 2 took the courts next. Oly Fernando at no. 8 quickly jumped ahead in the first two games, but Northeastern’s Katie O’Neil was not going down without a fight. O’Neil brought the score to 2-2, and broke away from Fernando at 6-6 in the fifth. Natalie Chen at the no. 5 flight also went into five games. Chen tied it up at 2-2 in the fourth, but Northeastern came out on top. Wellesley lost to Northeastern 6-3.
Sunday was a long day. Wellesley was able to watch a fantastic set of matches between finalists Penn and Princeton, as well as great individual matches between Trinity and Yale. With a 4:30 start time against St. Lawrence, it soon became apparent that Wellesley was not going to get on court until 5:30. Matches between St. Lawrence and Wellesley got underway at 6:00 pm on Sunday night, and the Blue decided to end their season on a high note. One highlight was a win for no. 1 Sarah Odell who had lost to St. Lawrence’s Meg North at the Wesleyan Round Robin. Odell lost the first game to North, but came out swinging to a 9-3 victory in the second. Both players put everything on the line in the third game, playing long rallies, determined to keep themselves in play. Odell triumphed in the third 9-7, and finished the fourth 9-2. Wellesley defeated St. Lawrence 7-2 and finished 23rd in the nation.
The season is over except for no. 1 Sarah Odell who will travel down to the United States Naval Academy this Thursday with head coach Wendy Berry for the Individual College Squash Championships.