W. Squash Wins National Championship

Virginia Brown found herself in a grueling predicament. After dropping the first two games in her best-of-five match with Trinity's Clare Austin, and knowing that Austin had already beaten her just two weeks ago, Brown knew she had to rewrite history. Eventually, the senior co-captain followed the cues of her teammates and her own instincts to outlast her English opponent in five games.

But that's not even the remarkable thing. What is truly amazing is that Brown's victory was just the icing on the cake, a sweet topping applied to an already astounding weekend during which the Harvard women's squash team captured its 11th national championship at the Howe Cup in New Haven.

"Emotions were running high, and we won with authority," said junior co-captain Margaret Elias. "People played with their hearts and their minds, and it was a great way to end the season."

By the time Brown stepped on the court, five Crimson players had already scored victories to ensure that the Howe Cup would be returning to Cambridge after a three-year hiatus. Only two weeks after losing a 5-4 heartbreaker to arch-rival Trinity, Harvard stepped onto the Yale courts with a mission.

"We knew that we could beat Trinity, and saw this second match with them not so much as revenge but as a time to prove ourselves," Brown said. "When it came down to the final push, we had the guts to pull through."

It was a steady balance of nail-biting victories and thorough obliterations that propelled Harvard to the winner's circle. Early in the final round, No. 3 seed Carlin Wing found herself in a 2-0 hole to Samantha Lewins before finding her stroke and winning the final three games, including the last two by 9-2 margins. Ella Witcher also rebounded from an early deficit to score a four-game win over Mollie Anderson.

While Witcher and Wing had to launch furious comebacks, other Crimson players didn't even give their opponents a chance to make things interesting. No. 2 Margaret Elias dominated All-American Janine

Thompson in three games, and Kristin Wadhwa and Ashley Harmeling also managed decisive victories.

Knowing that the national championship was already secure, Brown then took the court realizing her match was about personal pride and team dominance.

"I was lucky in that my teammates made my match a little bit easier on me than it might have been," she said. "My victory was therefore very much a personal victory [and] a way to show the strength of our team."

The blend of close matches and decisive triumphs that elevated Harvard in the championship round was ultimately the same formula that helped the squad move through the main draw.

After soundly thrashing Dartmouth in the opening round, 9-0, the Crimson met defending Howe Cup champion Pennsylvania in the semifinals. Having already beaten the Quakers once this season in a close contest, the Crimson was well aware that the second match would not be a cakewalk.

Although Harvard had already won the match before No.1 Louisa Hall took the court, it was Hall's Herculean effort that symbolized Harvard's strong play throughout the weekend. The freshman endured a see-saw battle with 1st team All-American Runa Reta only to come out on top at the end.

"My match against Reta was so nice because I was starting to feel as though when matches got close I didn't have what it takes to pull through," Hall said. "But I feel like I remembered how to win [against Reta]."

In addition to Hall, Katie Gregory won at the No. 7 spot with a three- game sweep of Quincy Riley and Elias, Witcher, Harmeling and Wadhwa also prevailed for the Crimson.

With the Howe Cup already under its belt, the Crimson host traditional rival Yale in what will inevitably be an anticlimactic finish to the team component of the season.

After the Yale match, individuals will prepare for the Women's Intercollegiate Squash Association Individual Championships, which will be held at Barnaby Courts in the Murr Center from March 2-4.

"Two weeks isn't really a lot of time to prepare, so we'll just be fine-tuning and keeping in shape," Elias said.

As for the coming weekend, the women will probably be returning to New Haven in street clothes. After receiving vocal support from the men's team this past weekend, the women will likely reciprocate as the men vie for a national title of their own.