Crimson Squeaks By Feisty Bantams

Senior Audrey Duboc pulled out a dramatic come-from-behind win and the third-ranked Harvard women’s squash team rallied to knock off rival No. 4 Trinity, 5-4, at the Murr Center last night.

“I think it adds such a special touch having Audrey win it at the end,” captain Kyla Grigg said. “She’s one of our amazing seniors and she deserves it. I’m so happy for her and so happy for the team.”

When Duboc took the court, the two squads were tied at 3, but Katherine O’Donnell, playing in the No. 7 position, dropped a tight five-game match on the adjacent court to make the remaining encounters must-wins. Grigg quickly dispatched her rival at No. 1, Vaidehi Reddy, 10-8, 9-2, 9-5, to turn all eyes on Duboc, who dropped the opening two games to Ashley Clackson, 9-2 and 9-7.

“In the beginning of the match,” Duboc said, “I made a lot of errors and then I just started to work. I was lucky.”

With her back against the wall, Duboc rallied, pulling out the third set, 9-3, and taking the fourth, 9-6. By this point, both teams joined the partisan ranks in the stands behind the court, adding to the raucous cheering contingents.

“It feels great,” Duboc said. “It’s one of the biggest matches; we get so much fan support. It’s an awesome feeling to have such a big crowd behind you.”

With the entire match hanging in the balance, Duboc worked her opponent around the court with drop shots and deep balls, going ahead 3-0, losing four straight points, then charging back in front, 6-4.

From there, the already tense showdown turned into a nail-biter. Duboc and Clackson traded four straight sideouts before the crafty senior picked up a point to make it 7-4. But Clackson would not go quietly, shrinking the gap to 7-6 and fighting through five more sideouts.

The third time Duboc regained serve was the charm, as the veteran sealed the win with two consecutive forehand winners.

“I knew we needed this match,” Duboc said. “I was very nervous in the beginning, until a game and a half in, then I started playing and got nervous again. It’s like this cycle of being nervous and playing and nerves and playing. It was an internal battle playing them.”

The Crimson had played just one dual match in the 66 days before last night, but hardly looked rusty in toppling Trinity, avenging last year’s 6-3 loss.

Harvard utilized wins from two of its freshmen, Johanna Snyder and Sandra Mumanaschit, in No. 6 and No. 9 positions, respectively, to seize an early 2-1 edge. Mumanaschit won in straight sets, while Snyder pulled out her win 9-2 in the fifth.

“The two freshmen came out really strong, which is great,” Duboc said. “I was really impressed with that. I was really surprised that they won.”

But junior Supriya Balsekar dropped a tough four-setter to Jo-Ann Jee in the No. 3 flight and senior Lydia Williams was bested in a contentious matchup at No. 5 as the Bantams took the overall lead.

Junior Jennifer Blumberg eked out a gutsy five-game win, 9-5, 9-5, 0-9, 0-9, 9-5, over Lauren Polonich to set up the dramatic final round of matches.

“Blumberg just played an amazing game,” Grigg said. “I don’t know sometimes where it comes from, but she pulls it out every time. She’s totally a clutch player.”

The victory bumps the Crimson’s record to 6-0 (3-0 Ivy), but a brutal slate of dual matches awaits in the coming weeks. The team travels to face highly-ranked Penn and Princeton this weekend, before returning home to face Yale on Wednesday. The season-ending Howe Cup looms the following weekend.

“We have our biggest matches these next two weeks,” Duboc said. “Going into the weekend with a win is always great.”

“It’s just a really nice confidence boost,” Grigg added. “And we know we can do it. They’re going to come down to matches that go to five.”

—Staff writer Jonathan Lehman can be reached at jlehman@fas.harvard.edu.