The Big Green men's and women's squash teams were busy last weekend, as both teams hosted Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania and Bates College last Saturday and Sunday. Both the men and women played true to their national rankings No. 7 and No. 8, respectively. The men followed up a loss to the higher-ranked Princeton with wins over lower-ranked Penn and Bates, while the women lost to Princeton and Penn before defeating Bates 7-2.
On Saturday, the Dartmouth men (5-2, 1-2 Ivy) took the court against an undefeated Princeton side (8-0, 3-0 Ivy) looking to show why it was ranked No. 3 in the country. The Big Green fought hard against the Tigers at every position, but ultimately fell 8-1 to its strong opponent. Dartmouth's bright spot on the day came at the No. 9 position, with senior Brian O'Toole '12 coming back from an 0-2 deficit to beat Princeton sophomore Ash Egan in five games.
Stephen Wetherhill '12 and Fletcher Pease '14 also fought hard in marathon five-game matches, but neither was able to overcome their Tiger counterpart. In the No. 1 match, Chris Hanson '13 played four close games against Princeton junior Todd Harrity, one of the Ivy League's most dominant players over the past three years. Hanson had his chances, losing the first two games by a combined five points and prevailing, 11-9, in a tight third game, but Harrity proved too much for his Big Green opponent.
On Sunday, the men played back-to-back matches against No. 9 Penn and No. 19 Bates. The contest against Penn (3-3, 0-3 Ivy) went down to the wire, with Dartmouth winning five out of the nine matches to narrowly edge out their Ivy League rival. The Big Green went 0-3 in matches that went to a fifth game but won the decision on the strength of its top five players, each of whom defeated his Quaker opponent.
The match against Bates (3-8, 2-3 NESCAC) was a more lopsided affair. Dartmouth cruised to a dominating 9-0 victory, dropping just one game along the way, as Hanson was pushed to four games before getting the win for the Big Green.
The women's match against Princeton saw the Big Green fall prey to the Tigers, 9-0. While Princeton (5-2, 1-2 Ivy) was the favorite to win the clash, Dartmouth (2-3, 0-3 Ivy) gave its opponents everything they could handle. Marian Lurio '15 was particularly impressive, taking Princeton junior Casey Cortes to five games at the No. 8 position before losing the decider 11-9. Becky Lau '13 was the only other Dartmouth player to win a game in the showdown, losing at the No. 2 position in four games.
The women then played Penn and Bates on Sunday and came away with a split decision, losing to the Quakers 9-0 before defeating Bates 7-2 in an impressive performance. Penn's quality proved too much for the Big Green, however, as no match took more than four games to be decided. Notable Dartmouth performances included Katherine Nimmo '14, Melina Turk '14 and Helena Darling '15, all of whom won a game off of their opponents before succumbing to hard fought 3-1 losses.
The clash against Bates promised to be a close game between two teams separated by just one place in the national poll. The match did not disappoint, with the Dartmouth women going 1-2 in matches that went to five games. In the end, however, the Big Green women beat Bates (8-3, 4-1 NESCAC) thanks to strong performances across the board.
Both teams will travel to face Williams College on Saturday. Neither the Dartmouth men nor women have lost a non-Ivy competition this season, and each squad is looking to build a winning streak as they travel to western Massachusetts this weekend.
