No. 2 Harvard Rolls Past No. 6 Cornell in 9-0 Fashion

It appears that the second-ranked Harvard women’s squash team (4-0, 3-0 Ivy) is not in the holiday spirit, demonstrated by the fact that it did not gift sixth-ranked Cornell women’s squash team (2-3, 0-3 Ivy) a single game on Saturday morning.

“We are a united team, helping each other out and working without complacency,” Harvard coach Satinder Bajwa said. “Cornell was stronger than Dartmouth, but our girls were stronger than they played last week. They really raised their level, and that’s very nice to see.”

The Crimson defeated the Big Red in all 27 contests in its home opener, the second time this season Harvard has won all of the games played on a match day. The Crimson remains the only team in the top 10 that hasn’t suffered an individual match loss among teams active thus far in the campaign.

Freshman Laura Gemmell set the tone for the Crimson, as she came out strong, defeating Cornell’s Jaime Laird 11-2 before finishing her off in a sweep, 11-8, 11-7. The rest of her teammates followed suit. At the number two spot, last year’s freshman phenom, sophomore Nirasha Guruge, took care of dismissing her opponent in three simple victories, 11-6, 11-6, 11-4. Junior June Tiong defeated Big Red’s Liza Stokes in three increasingly difficult matches, 11-1, 11-6, 11-9.

The closest match of the day came at the No. 4 spot. Junior Alisha Mashruwala had little trouble winning the first two games 11-3 and 11-6 before facing stiff competition from Cornell’s Rebecca Hazell. Mashruwala held on to win the third set 13-11 after a cycling of points that almost saw Harvard drop a game. At the no. 8 spot, junior Bethan Williams had no trouble in seeing off Big Red’s Clare Berner, 11-4, 11-0, 11-2.

Freshman Natasha Kingshott continued the good play for the group of promising freshmen, only allowing Cornell’s Lauren Sachvie to score four points in each of her three wins. Kingshott has exceled at the No. 5 spot, and is one of three freshmen that have regularly held a spot in the top nine. Gemmell has thrived in the top spot while freshman Sarah Mumanachit also fared well in the no. 7 spot. Saturday was no different for Mumanachit, who beat her opponent 11-6, 11-7, 11-3.

“[The freshmen] have been performing really well thus far,” co-captain Johanna Snyder said. “They’ve been on the courts everyday and working hard. They’ve shown a lot of maturity in these past matches, and they’re fighters. They put a lot of good effort into every match.”

Co-captains Katherine O’Donnell and Johanna Snyder took care of business at the No 6. and No. 9 spot respectively. O’Donnell defeated Big Red’s Maggie Remsen, 11-5, 11-4, 11-7, while Snyder tired out her opponent by the end, 11-4, 11-4, 11-1.

The team was without sophomore Emily Park once again, who is has been suffering from a strained back all season, after she appeared to be on the path to recovery.

“We’re trying to get her feeling better,” Bajwa said. “She still has a slight muscle strain in the back, so we don’t want her back too soon. We want her back in full force when she’s ready.”

Snyder commented on the team’s recent streak of wins, citing great team chemistry and talent as the main recipe for success.

“I was pretty sure from the beginning that we would play really well,” Snyder said. “We are really deep this year as I’ve never seen before in my four years as a player. We have a really good atmosphere that keeps up the motivation. I know that we can dominate this season.”

—Staff writer Brian A. Campos can be reached at bcampos@fas.harvard.edu.