Hall, Wilkins Stymied in Quarterfinals at CSA Individuals

For the second straight year, the Harvard women’s squash team failed to send a player past the quarterfinals at the College Squash Association Individual Championships, held at St. Lawrence.

Both captain Louisa Hall and junior Lindsey Wilkins—the Crimson’s standard one-two punch—made it as far as the final eight before falling. Freshman Lydia Williams lost in the first round, while fellow freshman Audrey Duboc lost in four games in the round of 16 but made it as far as the semifinals in the second round consolation bracket.

Hall, seeded third—who was unable to compete in last year’s CSAs due to the flu—had her momentum abruptly snapped by Trinity’s Vaidehi Reddy, the same player to take out Duboc the round before.

“I would have liked to have ended on a good note,” Hall said, “but my thesis is due Wednesday. I’m more focused right now on my thesis than on squash.”

Hall won her first two matches in relatively uneventful 3-0 scores. The Reddy match started off in similar fashion, as Hall took the first game in an easy 9-0. Then Reddy—the intercollegiate No. 7, seeded sixth—rallied to win the next two close games 9-7 and 10-8.

Hall pulled out a 9-5 win in the fourth game, but in the all-important fifth game could not mount a consistent threat and fell 9-2.

In her last match as a Harvard player, Hall said that although she was disappointed with her performance, the CSA tournament did not hold a lot of personal significance.

“I was more emotional about the last team match,” she said “This tournament has always felt a little strange—it’s like a strange appendage to the season that doesn’t count.”

Wilkins, seeded seventh, met a similar fate in the quarterfinals, coming up against the virtual impasse of Amina Helal of Trinity, the No. 1 player in the country and two-time Individuals champion.

“She obviously had aspirations to reach the final,” said Wilkins, who was playing Helal for the first time in her career. Overcoming scheduling confusion that almost caused her to default her first match of the day, Wilkins did not drop a game in her first two matches but was unable to get through to Helal, losing 9-0, 9-6, 9-4.

“Everybody was looking exhausted at the end of the weekend,” Wilkins said. “It’s always hard to come back after an emotional weekend at the Howe Cup.”

Duboc, the 11th seed, battled valiantly in both her main-round matches, winning a five-game come-from-behind thriller against Penn’s Radhika Ahluwalia 2-9, 7-9, 9-2, 9-4, 9-1. She was the first Harvard player to fall to Reddy, however, winning the first game but ultimately losing the match 8-10, 9-2, 9-2, 9-3.

Duboc lost in the semifinals of the second round consolation to Princeton’s Claire Rein-Weston, the 10th seed in the tournament, 9-4, 9-3, 5-9, 9-4.

Hall commended the play of both freshmen.

“I think it’s a hard tournament freshman year—it’s really long, and it’s after you’ve had a tough season,” she said.

Williams lost 3-0 to Penn’s Paula Pearson in the first round, and narrowly fell to Amherst’s Ashley Harmeling in a marathon set 10-8, 2-9, 9-7, 8-10, 9-3 in the consolation round.

“I’m so proud of everyone,” Wilkins said. “It’s so tough by the end of the season—you’re just wrung out. You just want to put down your racket. It’s hard to pick it up and play, and the girl with the most energy and fire is going to be the one standing with a smile on her face at the end.”

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