Women's Squash Picks Up Sweep to Kick off Season

In the inaugural game of its campaign towards a third-straight national championship, the No. 1 Harvard women’s squash team not only earned the victory against No. 9 Dartmouth, but the squad posted a perfect score.

Winning the matchup hosted at the Crimson’s Bamaby Squash Courts, 9-0, Harvard (1-0, 1-0 Ivy League) didn’t even let the Big Green (1-2, 0-1) win a single game. Every single player on the Crimson bested their respective opponent 3-0.

“I thought the team did well today,” junior Sue Ann Yong said. “Sometimes it's easy to be too relaxed when we are playing a lower-ranked team, but I think the team did well to maintain focus and play some disciplined squash. Individually, I was happy to start off the season and put into play what I've been working on at practice for the past few weeks.”

At the number one position, sophomore Sabrina Sobhy continued her dominance. Last year as a freshman, Sobhy was named Rookie of the Year, Player of the Year, and was recognized as a College Squash Association First-Team All-American.

The team also brings in four freshmen to supplement their nine returning players from last year’s championship team. Three of these players—Gina Kennedy, Amelia Henley, Eleonore Evans—at the number two, three and seven positions, respectively, picked up their first collegiate victories with ease.

“We have an amazing class of freshmen this year, all talented and eager to compete,” Yong said. “I think they add some fresh excitement and motivation to the team, and I'm sure they will bring that momentum forward into the season.”

Junior Alyssa Mehta picked up her victory in the number four position. Mehta, like Sobhy, was a CSA First-Team All-American and All-Ivy League player. Crimson sophomore Kayley Leonard earned the same honors in the 2015-16 season.

Representing the number five position, Yong picked up the team’s fifth perfect victory with sophomore Sophie Mehta picking up an equally impressive win as the number six player.

Captains Caroline Monrad and Dileas MacGowan both picked up their wins in the number eight and nine slots, respectively.

The Dartmouth team came into Wednesday’s competition with two matches already under its belt. The team took its first loss in the first match of the season to Trinity, 7-2. Bouncing back, the group beat Marshall, 8-1. This is a Big Green team that is coming off of a B Division National Championship last season.

“There's always some nerves going into the first match, but I think the team was very excited to kick the season off as we build up to the heart of the season and really big matches come J-term,” Yong said.

Harvard, however, completed only three clean sweeps in their national championship season last year. It was against St. Lawrence, No. 16 Brown in the Ivy League Championship, and No. 8 Cornell in first round of the CSA National Championships that the Crimson posted perfect games. The 2015-16 season represented the fourth time that the team had taken the national gold in five years.

In fact, Harvard is on a 24-game win streak, with its last loss coming on January 11, 2015, to Penn. With its next matchup against Drexel on January 13, the Crimson will officially go two years without a loss.

“We were playing without two team members so a clean sweep is an especially good result and really shows how strong our team is this year,” MacGowan said. “We've put in a lot of training on court and have also focused more on mental preparation this year than in previous years, so it'll be interesting to see how that affects our performance and results this year.”

—Staff writer Cade Palmer can be reached at cade.palmer@thecrimson.com.