For Immediate Release
December 2, 2007
Wellesley Sports Information
Wellesley Squash Goes 2-2 at Wesleyan Round Robin
Story by Sarah Odell '10
MIDDLETOWN, CT –The Wellesley College squash team packed its bags and headed down to Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT for the Wesleyan Round Robin. It was clear that the Blue had an extra special surge of pride this year, not just because of how hard they had been working this season, but because for the first time in two years they were headed to Wesleyan as a varsity team. With head coach Wendy Berry at the helm, it seemed on Saturday that the Blue would be unstoppable despite the absence of Wellesley’s no. 3 player, Jackie Shaw (Washington Crossing, PA), who was injured. The Blue would first face the St. Lawrence Saints and the Wesleyan Cardinals on Saturday, followed by the Hamilton Continentals and the William Smith Herons.
Saturday proved not to disappoint as Wellesley quickly won all of its first round matches against the Saints at the 2, 4, 6 and 8 spots respectively. The Saints were then able to pick up three matches at the number 9, 7 and 1 spots. Determined to put up a fight, newcomer Laura Stevens (Lexington, KY) battled to win at the number 9 spot. Stevens, along with no. 8 Ashley Stevens (East Harwich, MA) and no. 10 Estelle Raimondo have only been playing squash for the past two and a half months, and got a real feel for competitive play this weekend. No. 1 Sarah Odell (Chester Springs, PA) fought a difficult 5 game match. Odell and the Saint’s Meg North played long rallies, forcing each other into the corners while challenging each other’s endurance. North eventually came out ahead in the fifth game. Overall, the Blue defeated the Saints 6-3.
Later that afternoon Wellesley faced one of its favorite opponents and home of former Wellesley College Squash Coach, Shona Kerr, when it played the Wesleyan Cardinals. After narrowly beating the Cardinals last season 5-4, Wellesley hit the courts quickly winning at the 2, 4 and 6 spots. Caroline Tall (Wellesley, MA) pulled out a four game nail biter at the no. 3 flight, with game scores 8/10, 10/9, 10/9 and 9/4. Wellesley only dropped two matches and beat the Cardinals 7-2.
Sunday proved to be a bit more difficult as Wellesley faced Hamilton and William Smith. On Sunday the Blue would not only be missing Shaw at no. 3, but lost no. 5 Geraldine Ng (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) as well. At 8:30 am the royal blue warm-ups of Wellesley were greeted by the royal blue jackets of the Hamilton Continentals. The first round of matches were close, with no.2 Ayako Kubodera narrowly loosing to the Continental’s Krissi Rubin. Rubin won 9/2, 10/8 and 10/8. As Ayako stayed with Rubin, it seemed as though the Blue’s Natalie Chen (Lexington, MA) may pull off a win at the no. 4 spot, but she too was narrowly defeated by the Continental’s Leila Clifford 7/9, 4/9, 7/9. The Blue put up a good fight but ultimately lost to Hamilton 9-0.
Determined to win their final match of the weekend, Wellesley put in everything they had left versus the William Smith Herons. Again at the no. 4 flight, it seemed that Chen would score a win for the Blue as she won her second game 10/8 versus the Heron’s Emily Gailun. Gailun eventually won the game, but next door on court 8 newcomer and French exchange student Raimondo pulled off Wellesley’s only win against William Smith at the no. 9 spot in a five game thriller. It was clear that Wellesley was hurting overall by loosing two key players in the ladder, and looks forward to another chance to play Hamilton and William Smith.
With two important wins in the pocket, and a match against Hamilton scheduled for January 14, 2008, Wellesley looks to grow and improve from this weekend. Their next match will be against Hamilton and will kick off a packed schedule leading eventually to the Howe Cup Championship at Princeton University where they hope to best their national ranking of 24.
| Wellesley def. St. Lawrence, 6-3 | ||||
| Wesleyan Round Robin | ||||
| New London, CT | ||||
Position |
Wellesley | St. Lawrence | Winner | Scores |
1 |
Sarah Odell | Meg North | St. Lawrence | 10-8, 5-9, 9-0, 1-9, 4-9 |
2 |
Ayako Kubodera | Jacqueline Barrett | Wellesley | 9-1, 9-7, 9-2 |
3 |
Caroline Tall | Lauren Dobbs | Wellesley | 9-0, 9-0, 9-5 |
4 |
Natalie Chen | Alyssa Smith | Wellesley | 9-6, 10-8, 9-1 |
5 |
Geraldine Ng | A.P. Daniels | Wellesley | 9-0, 9-1, 9-2 |
6 |
Laura Massey | Jessie Ziegler | Wellesley | 9-1, 9-1, 9-1 |
7 |
Oly Fernando | Anna Dunlop | St. Lawrence | 6-9, 6-9, 8-10 |
8 |
Ashley Stevens | Katie Demako | Wellesley | 9-7, 9-3, 10-9 |
9 |
Laura Stevens | Blake Carboni | St. Lawrence | 5-9, 1-9, 0-9 |
10 |
Estelle Raimondo | Molly Terrien | St. Lawrence | 4-9, 0-9, 3-9 |
| Wellesley def. Wesleyan, 7-2 | ||||
| Wesleyan Round Robin | ||||
| New London, CT | ||||
Position |
Wellesley | Wesleyan | Winner | Scores |
1 |
Sarah Odell | Casey Simchik | Wesleyan | 9-0, 6-9, 6-9, 1-9 |
2 |
Ayako Kubodera | Gwynne Hunter | Wellesley | 1-9 9-5 9-2 10-8 |
3 |
Caroline Tall | Andrea Giuliano | Wellesley | 8-10 10-9 10-9 9-4 |
4 |
Natalie Chen | Margaux Weisman | Wellesley | 9-4 9-0 9-0 |
5 |
Geraldine Ng | Elizabeth Larner | Wellesley | 9-2 9-3 9-4 |
6 |
Laura Massey | Caroline Janin | Wellesley | 9-6 9-5 9-7 |
7 |
Oli Fernando | Keera Bhandari | Wellesley | 9-5 9-0 9-1 |
8 |
Ashley Stevens | Lauren Russman | Wesleyan | 3-9, 5-9, 3-9 |
9 |
Laura Stevens | Nina Wasserman | Wellesley | 9-5 9-2 9-2 |
10 |
Estelle Rainondo | Emma Allison | Wellesley | 9-1 9-1 9-1 |
| Hamilton def. Wellesley 9-0 | ||||
| Wesleyan Round Robin | ||||
| New London, CT | ||||
Position |
Wellesley | Hamilton | Winner | Scores |
1 |
Sarah Odell | Kelly Whipple | Hamilton | 1-9, 1-9, 1-9 |
2 |
Ayako Kubodera | Krissy Rubin | Hamilton | 2-9, 8-10, 8-10 |
3 |
Caroline Tall | Courtney Kollmer | Hamilton | 8-10, 1-9, 3-9 |
4 |
Natalie Chen | Leila Clifford | Hamilton | 7-9, 4-9 |
5 |
Laura Massey | Natalie Schwerin | Hamilton | 0-9, 0-9, 1-9 |
6 |
Oly Fernando | Danielle Forsyth | Hamilton | 0-9, 0-9, 3-9 |
7 |
Ashley Stevens | Anne Edelstein | Hamilton | 1-9, 5-9, 0-9 |
8 |
Laura Stevens | Betsey McDermott | Hamilton | 1-9, 1-9, 1-9 |
9 |
Estelle Raimondo | Nina Platt | Hamilton | 0-9, 1-9, 0-9 |
| William Smith def. Wellesley 8-1 | ||||
| Wesleyan Round Robin | ||||
| New London, CT | ||||
Position |
Wellesley | William Smith | Winner | Scores |
1 |
Sarah Odell | Lucy Ross | William Smith | 4-9, 5-9 |
2 |
Ayako Kubodera | Lori Stump | William Smith | 0-9, 5-9, 0-9 |
3 |
Caroline Tall | Maddie Brooks | William Smith | 7-9, 5-9, 1-9 |
4 |
Natalie Chen | Emily Gailun | William Smith | 9-5, 8-10, 6-9, 2-9 |
5 |
Laura Massey | Kate Mullen | William Smith | 0-9, 3-9, 1-9 |
6 |
Oly Fernando | Emily Halenberg | William Smith | 3-9, 6-9, 2-9 |
7 |
Ashley Stevens | Sarah Hallberg | William Smith | 1-9, 0-9, 6-9 |
8 |
Laura Stevens | Megan Peterson | William Smith | 9-4, 2-9, 7-9, 1-9 |
9 |
Estelle Raimondo | Sarah Cummings | Wellesley | 9-4, 3-9, 9-7, 6-9, 9-3 |