W. Squash Shakes Off Rust, Dartmouth

HANOVER, N.H.—The No. 4 Harvard women’s squash team won five matches in straight games to beat No. 6 Dartmouth 6-3 last night.

Freshman intercollegiate No. 14 Audrey Duboc, playing in the third spot for the Crimson (3-0, 3-0 Ivy) fell behind Avery Eyre 5-0 in the first game. But Duboc reeled off nine consecutive points to give herself the 1-0 lead.

In the second game, Duboc made it 10 straight before hitting the tin twice to give Eyre a point. After two Duboc tallies, Eyre notched four straight points to take the 5-3 lead before letting a shot get away from her high to give the serve back. Duboc tied the score at five, but then sent her own shot high and relinquished the serve. Eyre nosed ahead at 6-5, but Duboc took two points to give herself the lead. Eyre recovered to tie it at seven, but Duboc took two in a row to take the second game 9-7.

The third game was not nearly as hotly contested, as Duboc jumped out to a 3-0 lead and closed Eyre out with six consecutive points for the 9-2 clincher.

At No. 5, sophomore Moira Weigel made her season debut for Harvard after contemplating taking the season off to focus on her studies.

Weigel took the first game 9-2, but fell behind 7-2 in the second game en route to dropping it 9-5. Martha Ucko then finished her off 9-7 and 10-8 for the Big Green (4-3, 1-2).

“I’m not as fit as I used to be,” Weigel said. “I’m not as sharp as I used to be and I don’t think I have any right to be angry about that.”

Sophomore Allison Fast had the only five-game match of the day at No. 6. Fast took the first game 9-7 before losing the next two 9-6 and 9-4. But Fast recovered to win the fourth game 9-6 and then built a 6-3 advantage in the rubber game, in which she won the final three points to win the match.

Junior Laura Delano also saw her first action of the season, falling 1-9, 9-7, 9-7, 9-7 in the ninth position.

The Crimson struggled somewhat after not having played a match since beating Cornell 9-0 Dec. 6.

“This is always a hard match to play just because we’re coming right off of exams,” said co-captain and intercollegiate No. 3 Louisa Hall, who won 9-1, 9-0, 9-0 at No. 1. “I think everybody probably felt a little bit rusty.”

“I think they’re a little bit mentally tuned out of squash,” Harvard coach Satinder Bajwa said. “They’ve been training, but they’ve been focusing on exams.”

—Staff writer Alan G. Ginsberg can be reached at aginsber@fas.harvard.edu.