Seniors Brady Beale and Victoria McEvoy stole the show as the women's squash team downed a much-hyped squad from Brown, 6-3, to secure a fifth place finish at the Howe Cup Championship yesterday.
The Big Green started off the tournament with tough losses to perennial powerhouse teams from Harvard and Yale on Friday, falling 9-0 and 7-2 respectively. Beale and McEvoy were Dartmouth's lone victors against the Elis.
On Saturday, the bitter taste from Friday's losses changed to sweetness as Dartmouth clawed past Amherst, 7-2. "We just smoked them," Jen Karlen '98 said.
"I thought we played extremely well against Amherst," Head Coach Chris Brownell said. "Everyone was on top of their game and I'm just glad we were able to keep up our high level of play through Sunday."
In the end, the Big Green did more than just keep up their level of play; they stepped it one notch.
"Brown came into the match as the favorites," Karlen said. "They were coming off a solid win over Trinity and people kept saying that Brown's been improving steadily all season long."
"We went into the match knowing that we'd have to win at positions five through nine," Brownell said. "Our greatest strength has always been our depth. We don't usually win in the top spots, but we rally back in the bottom matches."
Playing in the eighth and ninth slots, respectively, Beale and McEvoy both came up strong as they made quick work of their Brown opponents. "Brady and Victoria both got on and off the courts in like ten minutes," Brownell said.
In the final match, Karlen put together he own version of a finale as she rallied back after to a two-game deficit to beat Laurie duBrun 6-9, 4-9, 9-7, 9-7, 9-4. "It was a great win for Jen because she'd gotten crushed by duBrun twice before, so today was really a big confidence builder for Jen," Brownell said.
All in all, the win over the Bears to seal the fifth place title was huge for the Big Green. "It's nice to beat Brown because we lost to them last year at the Howe Cup," Brownell said. "It was sweet revenge."
The team was especially proud of the two seniors on the team. "Brady and Victoria has some really outstanding performances this weekend," Karlen said. "They went out in style and really made all us proud to be part of the Big Green squash program."
In two weeks, the women's squash team returns to the Berry Squash courts as Dartmouth hosts the Individual Championships from February 28th through January 2nd.
"Hopefully, we'll get some home court advantage kicking in and helping these kids in two weeks," Brownell said.
