The Dartmouth squash teams split the night Wednesday. The women downed Williams College 6-3 while the men dropped five matches to the Ephs.
The Dartmouth women (6-3, 0-2 Ivy) overpowered the Ephs (6-5 NESCAC). Heather Lisle '07 made short work of sophomore Stephanie Barnett, dominating the match and winning in three games. Emilie Mackie '07 and Libbey Brown '10 also finished in three, but faced a few tough moments.
At No. 1, Ashley Malenchak '08 played exceptionally well. She came back from a two-game deficit to win 3-2 against freshman Toby Eyre, securing the Dartmouth women's solid lead over Williams.
"I'm happy with the way we're playing," said co-captain Avery Eyre '07 of the team's efforts, recalling their 9-0 win over Amherst last weekend. "Hopefully we'll hold our seeding in preparation for the Howe Cup in February, but we still have to get past Cornell and Brown."
Eyre was paired up against Arianna Kourides, a junior from Williams, in the fifth match of the night. After dropping the first game, Eyre rallied back in the second game with a resounding 9-1 win, followed by hard fought third- and fourth-game victories. Christie Alexander '08 also helped the Big Green to victory with her win over Ashley Eyre, sister of Dartmouth's Avery Eyre, in the second match of the night.
"It was a great win for the women's team and of course we're very happy about that," coach John Power said. "The men weren't as fortunate tonight, but we're more than likely to meet again at Nationals if we maintain our seeding."
The Dartmouth men (7-3, 0-2 Ivy) fought out every game to the end, but found themselves just out of reach in several well-played matches. The men's loss to the Ephs, ranked No. 8 by the College Squash Assosciation, means that Dartmouth will drop down from its current No. 7 ranking.
Co-captain Todd Wood '07, Andrew Boumford '09, Adam King '08, and Tyler Young '09 were winners on the men's side. The Williams lineup made for an interesting competition. The Ephs brought some players who greatly challenged the Big Green men, while others simply rolled over as Dartmouth swept past to victory.
King proved to the Ephs that Dartmouth's No. 4 spot is a force to be reckoned with when he blew away freshman Ethan Buschbaum in three games. Starting strong and ending stronger, King totally dominated the match, taking the first game 9-2 and the second 9-1 before answering the question of whether or not he could shut Buschbaum out with an emphatic "yes" as he demolished the left-handed Eph 9-0 in the third game.
Boumford, Dartmouth's No. 2, also finished in three games, checking off another win for the Big Green. Wood, playing No. 1, had to invest a little more effort into his win over Jon Barry, a junior from Williams. Barry gave Wood a hard time in the second game and took the third. The co-captain had to finish off the match in the fourth game but won decisively, allowing Barry only one point.
Ted Newhouse '09 played at No. 3 for Dartmouth, and attracted the attention of a large fan base to his battle against junior Tony Maruca. Newhouse played aggressively, coming back from a two-game deficit with a pair of wins, tying up the score. Unfortunately the effort left him with hardly anything for the fifth game, and Dartmouth took a loss.
While the women celebrated a win, the men were left to contemplate their next match, when the team will face off against No. 6 Western Ontario. The men leave early Friday morning for Ithaca, N.Y. to face both UWO and Cornell this weekend.
"We're hoping to make up for tonight by beating Western Ontario this Friday. Though Williams will still be ahead of Dartmouth in the rankings, a win against the No. 6 team means that we'll maintain our seeding and make it to Nationals. Then we'll have another chance at them," Power said.
