Blue Squash Defeats Vassar, Smith To Take Second at Seven Sisters Championship
SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. -- Wellesley College squash earned victories over Vassar College and Smith College, but fell to host Mount Holyoke College to take runner-up honors at the 2017 Seven Sisters Squash Championship on Saturday at the MHC Squash Courts.
Mount Holyoke College snapped the Blue's string of three-straight Seven Sisters titles, winning their first since 2013 and their eighth overall. Meanwhile, the No. 28 ranked Blue improved to 6-10 on the season during Saturday's competition.
Wellesley 5, Vassar 4
Wellesley opened the day with a thrilling 5-4 win over the No. 27 ranked Brewers, as a 3-1 (11-4, 11-5, 9-11, 11-9) victory by Lumi Kinjo (Tokyo, Japan) clinched the match for the Blue after Wellesley and Vassar split the opening eight matches.
Wellesley first year Eva Mullarkey (Locust Valley, N.Y.), senior Rhea Advani (Mumbai, India), first year Eunbie Coe (Los Angeles, Calif.) and junior Audrey Fok (Great Neck, N.Y.) all earned victories in the opening match. Both Advani and Coe needed five games to secure wins, with Advani defeating Vassar's Isabelle Bertram 3-2 (7-11, 11-5, 8-11, 11-3, 11-9) at No. 3 and Coe earning a 3-2 (8-11, 11-1, 11-5, 8-11, 11-8) win over Carly Scher at No. 5.
Vassar also earned a pair of five-game wins in the match, as Hannah Nice defeated senior Meera Nayar (Chicago, Ill.) 3-2 (9-11, 11-4, 9-11, 11-2, 11-1) at No. 1 and Emma Glickman downed first year Elena Ubeda (Natick, Mass.) 3-2 (11-7, 8-11, 5-11, 11-7, 15-13) and No. 8. However, in the end the match came down to the No. 7 spot in the ladder and it was Kinjo that secured the win for the Blue.
Mount Holyoke 8, Wellesley 1
In what turned out to be the deciding match of the 2017 Championship, No. 31 Mount Holyoke snapped a skid of three-straight Seven Sisters setbacks to Wellesley with an 8-1 win over the Blue. Mullarkey got the Blue on the board with a hard-fought five-game victory at No. 2, rallying from a 2-1 deficit to defeat Ragini Ghose 3-2 (7-11, 13-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-9), but the Lyons owned the rest of the match.
At No. 9, Fok opened with 8-11 and 11-5 victories for the Blue, but MHC's Amanda Lee rallied to win three-straight games (11-6, 11-7, 11-4) to take the match.
No. 1 Brandy Williamson then swept to a 3-0 victory over Nayar, earning one of five 3-0 sweeps for the hosts. No. 3 Nadindhi Udanagawa, No. 5 Lessly Portillo, No. 6 Tanishka Sachidanand and No. 7 Emily Chang all secured 3-0 wins for the Lyons, while No. 4 Allison Shilling and No. 8 Rose Minichiello each took their matches by 3-1 scores.
Wellesley 9, Smith 0
Wellesley closed out competition by cruising to a 9-0 victory over the No. 33 ranked Pioneers. Mullarkey completed a perfect day with a 3-0 (11-2, 11-2, 11-7) win at No. 2, defeating Geena Cho, while Nayar earned a 3-0 (11-3, 11-4, 11-5) win over Josephine Surer at No. 1.
The Blue won each of the remaining seven matches by 3-0 finals, as Advani won at No. 3 and fellow senior Ruby Feng (Old Lyme, Conn.) earned the win at No. 4. Coe earned her second win of the day at No. 5 and junior Meredith Curry (Medfield, Mass.) grabbed the Blue the win at No. 6. Wellesley completed the sweep with wins by Kinjo at No. 7, Ubeda at No. 8 and Fok at No. 9.
Wellesley will close out the regular season on Wednesday, February 15, when they host Boston College for a 7:00 PM match at Dana Hall. The match will also be senior day for Blue seniors Rhea Advani, Ruby Feng and Meera Nayar.
2017 Seven Sisters Squash Championship
Final Standings
Mount Holyoke - 3-0
Wellesley - 2-1
Vassar - 1-2
Smith - 0-3
All Tournament Team
Mount Holyoke - Allison Shilling, Amanda Lee and Rose Minichiello
Wellesley - Eva Mullarkey and Rhea Advani
Vassar - Hannah Nice and Jiamin Wu
Smith - Leah Jeon