MIDDLETOWN, Conn. - On the final day of the NESCAC Championships Sunday the Tufts University women's squash team was defeated 6-3 in a competitive battle by No. 4 seed Bates College. The sixth-seeded Jumbos finished in sixth place with a 2-2 record on the weekend.
It was the second time this season that the 19th-ranked Jumbos were edged by #15 Bates as they were defeated on January 13 with the same score of 6-3. After today's loss the Jumbos are 8-9 on the season while the Bobcats improve to 12-4.
Senior co-captain Catherine Shanahan, sophomore Megan Chen, and junior Rachel Windreich all picked up wins in four sets for the Jumbos today. Shanahan played in the third position and defeated Bates junior Katherine Manternach 11-6, 11-4, 9-11, 11-9. Chen competed at #4 and like Shanahan would win the first two sets, drop set three, and finish the match with a fourth-set win. Windreich faced Bates' Victoria Haghighi for the second time this season in the seventh slot. In a competitive battle she dropped set one in extra points 12-14, but rallied back to win the next three sets and the match with scores of 11-7, 11-8, 11-4.
Sophomore Diya Sanghi had her second five-set battle of the weekend when she squared up against Maeve O'Brien in the fourth position. With the first three sets being decided by two points (13-11, 9-11, 11-13) Sanghi won set four 11-4 before coming up short in the fifth set and falling 8-11. Senior co-captain Claire Davidson was also defeated in a competitive match in the first position as Luca Polgar won in four sets with scores of 8-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-9.
Freshman Isa Schneider at #2 (11-4, 11-6, 11-7), junior Chloe Kantor in the sixth slot (11-3, 11-6, 11-4), and sophomore Natalie Bartlett at #8 (11-9, 11-3, 11-6) were all defeated in three sets today by the Bobcats. Rounding out the Jumbos line-up in the ninth position junior Radhika Joshi dropped the first set to Bates' Natalie Bachman in extra points 10-12, followed by a second-set battle where she fell short 16-18. Bachman finished the exciting match for the Bobcats in three sets with her 11-7 victory in set three.
The Jumbos will return to play next Tuesday (Feb. 11) with a regular-season contest against #13 Brown (5-7) at 6:00 pm. Bates College will have some time off before competing in the CSA Team Nationals hosted by Yale University starting on February 21.
