MIDDLETOWN - The 19th-ranked Tufts University women's squash team defeated Colby College 8-1 today in the first round of the NESCAC Championships hosted by Wesleyan University.
Tufts entered the weekend as the No. 6 seed in the NESCAC Championships and ranked 19th in the national polls. Today's win improves their season record to 7-7 and advances them to the NESCAC Quarterfinals.
Freshman Isa Schneider had a competitive match at #2 and pushed through for a three set victory (11-9, 13-11, 11-4) over Colby's Sydney Ku. Senior Catherine Shanahan and sophomore Diya Sanghi also contributed three set wins for the Jumbos in the third and fourth positions, respectively.
In the fifth position junior Chloe Kantor would win the only four set match of the day against Madeline Latimore. After dropping the first set 7-11, Kantor pushed to 11-7 and 13-11 victories in set two and three before turning in a demanding 11-1 score to close the match. Junior Rachel Windreich in the sixth slot and sophomore Natalie Bartlett at #7 were both impressive as they allowed only thirteen points combined while cruising to three set victories. Windreich defeated D'Arcy Carlson 11-3, 11-0, 11-3 while Bartlett posted scores of 11-5, 11-1, 11-1.
Junior Radhika Joshi defeated Greta Drefke in the eighth slot with scores of 11-5, 11-6, 11-1 and freshman Abhilasha Bhasin completed the Jumbos victory in the ninth slot 11-5, 11-3, 11-2 over Colby's Sabrina Rabins.
Senior Claire Davidson fell in three games in the first position.
The Jumbos face Amherst College in a quarterfinal match tomorrow at 12:15pm. Amherst College is 10-4 on the season and earned a No. 3 seed and first round bye in the NESCAC Championship. Colby College will face Connecticut College in the consolation rounds tomorrow morning (Feb. 8) at 8:30am.
