Tigers Clinch Women's Squash Ivy League Title

Despite surging momentum gained after Wednesday’s hard-fought victory against No. 4 Trinity, the No. 3 Harvard women’s squash team (6-2, 3-2 Ivy) went 0-2 on its weekend road trip against Ivy League rivals Penn and Princeton. After losing, 6-3, to the Quakers on Saturday night, the Crimson dropped yesterday’s match to the Tigers, 7-2.

On Wednesday, Harvard will conclude its regular-season schedule against Yale at the Murr Center at 6 P.M.

PRINCETON 7, HARVARD 2

With this win, Princeton (9-0, 6-0) capped off a perfect season by clinching the Ivy League title, fitting for the Tigers given Harvard’s status as the defending champions.

Senior Kyla Grigg, playing at the No. 1 position and junior Supriya Balsekar at No. 3 contributed the only two Crimson victories. Grigg remains undefeated on the season.

Both junior Jennifer Blumberg and senior Audrey Duboc, who play at No. 2 and No. 4, respectively, lost their matches in five games. Even though Blumberg stumbled early, she did recover from a 2-0 deficit to force the deciding fifth game.

“On another day, those could totally have gone our way, which could have turned things around,” Grigg said.

The Quakers depth at the bottom of the ladder outmatched the Crimson, as Harvard lost the No. 7 match, 3-1, and was swept in both the No. 8 and No. 9 matches.

“Although was 7-2, it should have been a 5-4 match,” Crimson coach Satinder Bajwa said. “Next time we play them [in this weekend’s Howe Cup], if those matches go our way, we will have a good chance to upset them. There is a lot of hope that we’re capable of playing them again and turning the tables.”

PENN 6, HARVARD 3

Though Harvard managed two wins in the top four matches, the Quakers (8-1, 5-1) clinched the contest, 6-3. Despite the consistently strong play of both Grigg and Balsekar, the Crimson fell behind early after Blumberg fell to freshman Sydney Scott at No. 2 and Duboc suffered her first loss of the season at No. 4.

“That definitely changes everyone’s mentality because we know that we have to win a match on the bottom four [flights],” Grigg said.

That pressure did not turn out to be a strong factor, because Penn swept the bottom four matches, as the Crimson struggled against a team with impressive depth from top to bottom.

“If you compare their No. 8 to their No. 1, there’s not much difference at that level,” said Balsekar, who won her match at No. 3 in three straight games.

Senior Lydia Williams provided the other win for Harvard, 3-2. Her match was the only one to reach five games, as the other players on both teams prevented their opponents from recovering.

Though disappointed at the outcome, the team can enter next weekend’s Howe Cup, the national championship, with a more thorough scouting report on Penn and Princeton.

Harvard entered the match unsure of what Penn’s four freshmen would present. At both the No. 2 and No. 8 positions, the Quaker freshmen defeated Blumberg and Charlene Neo respectively.

With these players now scouted, the Crimson feels better prepared to face them in postseason play.

“I think having played someone within the last week is such an advantage, especially if you’re the person who lost,” Grigg said. “So many people don’t reflect on why they win. Sometimes you take it for granted. Anytime someone loses, you analyze it until you know why.”

This weekend also marked freshmen Katherine O’Donnell’s return to competition, as illness had prevented her from practicing for six weeks. Thanks to greater competitive experience, Bajwa expects her and the rest of this young team to present the rest of the Ivy League with an exacting challenge in the Howe Cup as he looks ahead to the near future.

“This weekend, we got a lot of match practice that we really needed,” Bajwa said. “That match practice is going to take us into the Howe Cup in a much stronger way.”

—Staff writer Robert T. Hamlin can be reached at rhamlin@fas.harvard.edu.