A neck-and-neck battle of the freshmen was the highlight of the afternoon as the No. 8 Dartmouth women's squash team fell 5-4 to No. 7 Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. on Saturday. The Big Green men also fell to the Big Red, losing 8-1. The Big Green's Oona Morris '15 fought fellow freshman Rachel Au through five grueling games before triumphing 12-10 and 11-8 in the fourth and fifth games to take the match. With just one spot separating the schools in the national rankings, a close match was expected, and the teams delivered, with three of the nine contests going the maximum five games.
The Big Green women (4-5, 1-4 Ivy) dominated the middle of the ladder, winning the fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth matches, but struggled at the two extremes. The first and ninth place matches both went to five games but the Big Green could not convert either into a win.
Melina Turk '14, Kensy Balch '14, Julia Watson '12 and Morris all topped their opponents in their matches. Balch only needed three games to take down Big Red senior Clare Berner at No. 6, while Turk and Watson each let one game slip away. In the end, the two defeated junior Marge Remsen and freshman Jacqueline Wagner, respectively, in four games.
At No. 1, Corey Schafer '13 engaged in a back and forth fight with freshman Danielle Letourneau. Schafer lost the first game 5-11, snuck out the second, 12-10, and fell in the third, 3-11. Schafer seemed to have seized the momentum after pulling out a grueling 17-15 win in the fourth game, but the junior could not hold on and lost the decisive fifth game, 8-11.
At No. 9, Helena Darling '15 dropped her match to sophomore Laura Caty in five games. Darling tallied nine points in each of the three games she lost and only allowed Caty seven points in the two games that Darling won.
The Big Green men's team (7-5, 2-3 Ivy) conjured up some excitement of its own but ultimately succumbed to the Big Red (10-4, 3-2 Ivy), 8-1. Dartmouth was ranked seventh nationally and Cornell sixth entering the day.
Chris Hanson '13 was the sole victor for Dartmouth, taking down junior Nick Sachvie in three straight games. Each game in the series was tighter than the last the first 11-3 and the second 11-9 but Hanson was able to knock down enough winners to take the third game 14-12.
Coach Hansi Wiens said he felt Hanson played "the match of his career."
Co-captain Brian O'Toole '12 said he believes it was valuable for Hanson to end his match in three games before his opponent had the opportunity to fight back.
"The kid [Hanson] played was really good, but [Hanson] played really consistent and had very few mistakes," O'Toole said. "He completely controlled the first two games, but the third got tight. He played the big points well and ended it before the kid could get back in."
Nick Sisodia '12 forced his fellow senior opponent Thomas Spettigue to five games. Sisodia opened the match strongly, winning the first two games 11-8 and 11-3. Spettigue remained unfazed, however, and reeled off three straight games to take the match.
"Nick started off really well and was up 2-0 but [Spettigue] was persistent and was picking up every ball," O'Toole said. "The momentum turned around and Nick started to get frustrated because the kid was getting back everything. Nick had to start going for more and seemed to lose steam in the end."
Robbie Maycock '13 also nailed down the first game of his match, 16-14, against junior Arjun Gupta, but fell in the next three 10-12, 8-11, 7-11. Bayard Kuensell '15 won the second and third game of his five-game fight 11-9 and 11-6 against junior Rishi Jalan but was edged out 11-13 in the fifth.
Wiens said he was pleased with the improvement the team showed since the Ivy Scrimmages in mid-November.
"The matches were really, really close," Wiens said. "We had a good chance, but they showed up and played very well. The matches were much closer than months ago at the Ivy Scrimmages when we really had no chance. We are on the right track and now they know they have to look out for us at the end of season tournaments."
Wiens said he believes that if the team works on concentration late in matches and "the little things" in the next few weeks, it will be ready for the National Championships, taking place Feb. 17-18 in Princeton, N.J.
On the team bus after the day of matches, the squads headed to New York City on Saturday night for a team dinner and a good night's rest before taking on Columbia University Sunday afternoon.
O'Toole explained how a weekend of squash matches on the road tend to play out for the team.
"On Friday, people are all pretty dead from a week of classes and practice, so we just relax on the bus ride," O'Toole said. "Saturday, it's a lot of time on the bus, and you go from a match, to a meal, right back to the bus, but the team is really close so that makes it bearable. We will all do work on Sunday on the way back."
