Wellesley Squash Downs Northeastern and BC, Falls to #1 Harvard

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The Wellesley College squash team went 2-1 at the Wellesley/MIT Round Robin this weekend, played at the MIT Squash Courts and co-hosted by the Blue. Wellesley defeated local rivals Northeastern University and Boston College, while falling to top-ranked Harvard University. 

On Friday evening, Wellesley posted an 8-1 victory over Northeastern. Leading the way for the Blue, sophomore Sara Del Balzo won a marathon five-game match at two, falling behind 0-2, but winning the final three games for the 3-2 (7-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-5) victory. First-year Lilly Tyson and junior Margo Sulmont won at two and three, with Tyson winning 11-9, 12-10, 11-7, and Sulmont cruising to an 11-3, 11-1, 11-5 win. 

At four and five, sophomore Haley Vasquez and first-year Alexandra Spiliakos each won in three games, as Vasquez was an 11-7, 11-4, 11-3 winner, and Spiliakos won 11-7, 11-3, 11-3. Rounding out the match, junior Cara Kaufman allowed just six points against her in an 11-1, 11-2, 11-3 victory at seven, while junior Jen Hsu and sophomore Stephanie Lee each won by default. 

Wellesley opened Saturday's action with a thrilling 5-4, come-from-behind victory over Boston College. The Blue fell behind 4-2, with a win by default in the nine spot and a win at eight from Hsu (11-3, 11-7, 11-4), but losses at two, four, five and seven.

With Boston College needing just one victory to claim the match, Wellesley rattled off three straight wins to take the match, 5-4. Sophomore Emma Haley ended an exciting five game match on top, defeating Lilly Havens 12-11, 7-11, 11-13, 11-6, 11-3 to pull within one, while Tyson defeated Kate Gorgi at three (8-11, 12-10, 11-5, 11-4) to tie the match at 4-4. Coming down to the final match of the morning, Spiliakos triumphed in a five-game match in the six spot, defeating Courtney Alpaugh 5-11, 11-8, 9-11, 14-12, 11-6, to seal the team win for Wellesley. 

Rounding out the weekend, the Blue dropped a tough 9-0 match to Harvard, the top-ranked team in the College Squash Association. Highlighting the match for Wellesley, Lee won a game in the ninth position, before dropping a 3-1 match to the Crimson's Julie Monrad.

Wellesley squash is off until the new year, returning to the courts on January 20th to take part in the Pioneer Valley Invitational at Mount Holyoke.