Blue Squash Rolls to 8-1 Win Over Tufts

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – No. 22 Wellesley College squash picked up a big 8-1 win over No. 26 Tufts University on Wednesday night at MIT. 

The victory helps the Blue improve to 8-4 overall, while solidifying their College Squash Association ranking with a victory over a Tufts squad that had come into tonight's match as winners of four straight. The Jumbos are now 6-5 on the season.

Wellesley took the top six matches in the table en route to their third consecutive victory over the Jumbos, dating back to the 2012-13 season. Wellesley also grabbed 3-0 sweeps in three of the pairings, courtesy of sophomore number one Sarah Zhang (Lexington, Mass.) as well as senior Gabriella Wynne (Brookline, Mass.) and sophomore Haley Connor (Boston, Mass.).

Zhang defeated Paget Stanco (Rye, N.Y.), 11-9, 11-3, 11-8, while Wynne engineered an 11-9, 12-10, 11-9 triumph over Claudia Udolf (West Hartford, Conn.) at number four. Connor, who has yet to drop a match in five appearances since joining the squad, defeated Chista Irani (Mumbai, India), 11-2, 11-5, 11-4.

It took five games to decide both the number two and number three matches, as both sophomore Phyllis Lin (Acton, Mass.) and junior Meera Nayar (Mamaroneck, N.Y.) emerged victorious from back-and-forth contests. Lin defeated Zarena Jafry (Bolton, Mass.), 11-9, 10-12, 13-11, 7-11, 11-7, while Nayar bested Hannah Burns (Locust Valley, N.Y.), 12-10, 7-11, 11-7, 8-11, 11-5.

Junior Rhea Advani (Mumbai, India) completed the top-six sweep with a four-game, 11-8, 11-6, 5-11, 11-4, victory over Sinclair Meggit (Princeton, N.J.) at number five.

Navisha Gupta (Mumbai, India) and Ruby Feng (Old Lyme, Conn.) completed the 8-1 Wellesley win with 3-0 sweeps at number eight and nine, respectively. Gupta defeated Gabrielle Salomon (Stamford, Conn.), 11-5, 11-2, 11-2, and Feng bested Isabella Libassi (Greenwich, Conn.), 11-7, 13-11, 11-7.

The lone Tufts win of the match came at number seven, as Sahana Karthik (Singapore) defeated Kate Loftus (Portland, Ore.), 9-11, 11-4, 11-4, 11-5.

Wellesley returns home to the Dana Hall School on Saturday, January 30, for a 2:00 PM match with Northeastern University. Tufts takes on Colby in their next outing on Saturday at 1:00 PM.