The last month had its ups and downs for the 17th-ranked Amherst women’s squash team. After a tough loss to Yale in December following their season opening victory, the Jeffs had a month off from competition before traveling to Middlebury in mid-January to kick off a long week of matches. The Jeffs fell to Middlebury in an 8-1 loss; their only victory coming from captain Lena Rice ’14 in the No. 9 spot.
The Jeffs then returned home to host the Pioneer Valley Invitational. Amherst finished the weekend 3-3, starting with a 9-0 win over Smith, followed by a loss later that afternoon to ninth-ranked Columbia. Day two resulted in a 9-0 sweep of Colby and a tough afternoon 2-7 loss to No. 12 Bates. On the final day of the invite, the Jeffs started off with a rough 0-9 loss to No. 11 George Washington before bouncing back with a huge win against previously No. 13 Franklin & Marshall.
Although the Jeffs suffered defeat on the first three courts in the F&M match, Tiana Palmer-Poroner ’17, Evelyn Kramer ’14, Khushy Aggarwal ’16, Taryn Clary ’16, Corri Johnson ’16 and Rice all had wins in spots four through nine.
“Our win against F&M last weekend was particularly exciting because they were ranked several spots ahead of us and it was our sixth and final match of a very long weekend,” captain Kramer said of the match.
The Jeffs then traveled to Providence, R.I. last week where they suffered a 0-9 loss to 10th-ranked Brown.
On Sunday, Jan. 26, Amherst hosted 21st-ranked Wesleyan and 14th-ranked Williams for the Little III Championship.
The Jeffs beat Wesleyan 7-2, but fell to the Ephs of Williams in an 8-1 loss. Clary was the lone win for the Jeffs in the No. 7 spot against their archrival Williams, defeating her opponent, 3-0. Clary had a very successful interterm, earning remarkable wins for her team against Bates and Wesleyan.
Junior Arielle Lehman also had a successful interterm in the second spot with wins against Wesleyan and Bates. Lehman also went to five games against Columbia, where she lost 11-6, 8-11, 10-12, 11-6, 11-6.
Senior captain Rice was proud of the team’s performance.
“Both of our matches against Wesleyan and Williams showed the strong potential of our team for the remainder of the season,” she said. “Although we lost to Williams, the overall score was not indicative of how the team played. Each match was extremely close and my teammates played the best squash I’ve seen them play all season.”
The Jeffs’ postseason begins this weekend against Conn. College at the NESCAC Championship, hosted at Hamilton.
“I am very excited for NESCACs this weekend,” continued Rice. “If everyone plays as well as they did on Sunday, we have a great shot against some of the tougher teams. I am confident that we will have a successful season going forward, regardless of the match scores.”
