W. Squash Falls To Yale At Howe Cup

Energized by two Ivy wins the previous weekend, the No. 2 Harvard women’s squash team steamrolled into this weekend’s Howe Cup. But the Crimson’s quest for a national championship was abruptly derailed by No. 3 Yale in the semifinals.

After swiftly putting away Williams, 9-0, in the first round, Harvard (7-1, 5-0 Ivy) was stunned 8-1 by the host Bulldogs and denied its second national championship in three years. Yale went on to lose to powerhouse Trinity 9-0 in the final.

The Crimson finished third overall after defeating Penn 7-2 in the consolation round on Sunday.

Harvard 7, Penn 2

In a rematch of last weekend, Harvard dismantled the Quakers, although junior co-captain Louisa Hall once again fell to intercollegiate No. 2 Runa Reta. In the Crimson’s 6-3 win over Penn the previous weekend, Hall was overcome by Reta’s athleticism and tricky shot combos, losing in three games. This weekend provided a closer match, with the two All-Americans swapping games until Reta eventually prevailed 4-9, 9-2, 5-9, 9-3, 9-7.

But the team as a whole was able to rebound aggressively from the bitterness of the Yale match.

“We just went on the court and forgot about what had happened,” co-captain Ella Witcher said.

Sophomore No. 2 Lindsey Wilkins exorcised her demons from the last Penn match, taking two games from Dafna Wegner—who had beaten Wilkins in five games last weekend—before Wegner defaulted in the third game because of a back injury.

Freshman No. 3 Moira Weigel suffered Harvard’s only other loss, falling for the second consecutive time to Linda McNair 9-6, 9-6, 8-10, 9-4.

Yale 8, Harvard 1

After dropping only two games in taking its second dominating, 9-0 victory over Williams on Friday, the Crimson charged into Saturday’s match against Yale confident that it could repeat its two scrimmage victories over the Bulldogs earlier this season.

Yale’s No. 1, freshman Michelle Quibell, had fallen to Hall in both encounters this season and needed to overcome a two-game deficit to beat Princeton’s Ruchika Kumar in the first round of play.

But instead of being tired from her marathon match, Quibell rebounded after dropping the first game 10-8 to Hall to vanquish the Harvard No. 1 in the next three games 9-1, 9-4, 9-2.

Wilkins, playing against junior squash rival Amy Gross, suffered a tough loss in the second slot. The Crimson sophomore dropped the first two games 9-7 and 9-3 before clawing her way back to take the next two, 9-5 and 9-3. But Gross recovered to take the last game 10-8 on a questionable stroke call on match ball.

Like Hall, Wilkins had defeated her Yale counterpart in both of their meetings earlier this season.

“It was a big battle,” Wilkins said. “She always plays a good match.”

Harvard’s sole victory came in the No. 9 spot, where sophomore Stephanie Hendricks defeated Ruth Kelley 9-3, 9-4, 9-5.

The Crimson will have an opportunity for revenge in its season finale Wednesday night, when it hosts the Bulldogs in a contest that will determine the Ivy title.

Both teams are undefeated in league play.

“Expect a much closer match on Wednesday,” Wilkins added. “We’re going to completely bushwhack them.”

—Staff writer Lisa J. Kennelly can be reached at kennell@fas.harvard.edu.