Dartmouth's No. 2-ranked player Julia Drury '06 found herself in a hole on Saturday afternoon against the Princeton Tigers. She trailed her opponent Casey Riley by two games in the second-to-last home match of her collegiate career. She also found herself at the No. 2 position after having played at No. 1 most of the season. However, Drury still managed to pull herself from the brink of defeat and down Riley in five games.
Despite the best efforts of Drury, No. 1 Ashley Malenchak '08 and the rest of the Dartmouth women's squash outfit, the team lost both matches this weekend at the Berry Sports Center to fall to 10-5 on the season (2-4 Ivy). The Big Green women were bested by the Tigers 7-2 on Saturday and narrowly fell to the University of Pennsylvania Quakers by a tally of 5-4 on Sunday.
However, Dartmouth assistant coach David Heath was quick to quell any discontent among the women in green, reminding them that their next match in two weeks, the prestigious Howe Cup at Harvard University, should be against the Quakers. Heath affirmed that the Dartmouth women can come away triumphant in such a rematch.
"If seedings go according to plan, Dartmouth and UPenn will battle it out again and the ladies will know that they are capable of turning this one around if they play to their potential," he said.
Head coach John Power also looks forward to the probable Penn rematch, but was sure to thank his three seniors for their efforts in this weekend's matches first.
"Special kudos to our three seniors for all winning their final home matches," he said. "Hopefully we'll be able to get a chance to reverse the outcome next weekend at the Howe Cup."
The Tigers and the Quakers also swept the Dartmouth men (13-6, 2-4 Ivy) this weekend. The men fell to Princeton 9-0 on Saturday before Penn knocked them off of their feet on Sunday by a score of 7-2.
Despite the lopsided tally, there were several tight matches against Penn, most notably Adam King '08's marathon contest at the No. 6 position against the Quakers' Graham Bassett. The match lasted 100 minutes, and when an exhausted and sweat-drenched King walked doggedly off the court, he was able to crack a smile after emerging victorious.
After posting a 3-1 victory against Penn's Lee Rosen, No. 2 Todd Wood '07 said that he felt good about the Big Green's play over the weekend, lauding the team's tremendous effort. "Despite only garnering two wins on the weekend, the team played well and had a multitude of close matches against two of the top teams in the country," he said.
According to Power, Princeton just had "too much depth" for the Big Green to handle, although UPenn was within the men's reach. "Yesterday [the competition against UPenn] was actually a great match," said Power. "Tons of very close encounters and overall I felt everyone put in a tremendous effort and played well. Their men's side was just a little too deep for us, particularly at the back end where they had three 3-0 victories."
The Big Green men's back three should be vastly improved at next week's hallowed Howe Cup at Princeton University, when Eben Clattenburg '09 is expected to return from a nagging ankle injury which he aggravated against Cornell. Clattenburg has spent much of the season at No. 7 and some of the year at No. 8.
Coach Power looks to next weekend's CSA Championships at Princeton to provide some big moments for the Big Green. The men will be seeded eighth at the Championships this year, and Power expects them to place even higher.
"I'll be disappointed if we don't finish at least seventh," Power said.
Clattenburg, known for his inspirational rallying cries, is optimistic about this weekend's slate of severely important matches.
"There were a couple of matches that could have gone either way last weekend, and we could have easily beaten UPenn 5-4 had things gone our way," said Clattenburg. "We are a strong team, and we can do very well this weekend at the CSA Championships. Plus, we owe it to the seniors to put in our best effort."
With the immediate past in mind, the Big Green will surely strive to leave New Jersey with some major victories and shiny hardware in hand.
