Harvard Women's Squash Notches Another Sweep, Tops Cornell

Six-hundred ninety days—that’s how long it’s been since the Harvard women’s squash team (5-0, 3-0 Ivy) last lost a match.

Since their heartbreaking 5-4 loss to Ivy foe Princeton in the 2009 CSA National Championship, the women of the Crimson squad have gone a perfect 17-0.

More impressive, the crew has garnered two-thirds of its victories in 9-0 sweeps.

The most recent win came this Saturday at the Belkin International Squash Courts, where No. 1 Harvard faced No. 7 Cornell (1-3, 0-3). Dropping only four games, the Crimson easily toppled the Big Red, 9-0, in Cornell’s home opener.

“We just wanted to go out there and play well and wrap up the first part of the season before New Year’s,” sophomore Sarah Mumanachit said.

And play well they did.

“The match went very well,” captain Alisha Mashruwala said. “It was probably the best I’ve seen the girls play, and myself, too.”

One of the gutsiest performances of the day was undoubtedly from Nirasha Guruge.

The junior faced Big Red sophomore Jaime Laird in the No. 2 slot—an unexpected matchup, since Laird has played predominantly in the top position since her rookie season.

After dropping the first frame, 11-3, Guruge adjusted her game and was able to come back and quickly capture the next two games, 12-10 and 11-3.

But after Laird nabbed an 11-4 victory in the fourth set, the match was pushed to five games—the first five-game match of the season for Harvard.

The Crimson team’s calm, collected demeanor was quite useful, then, in helping Guruge hang on for the win.

“We were pretty confident going into the match,” Mashruwala said. “The team takes it...one step at a time.”

Guruge kept her cool and snagged an 11-9 fifth-frame triumph.

She and sophomore No. 5 Natasha Kingshott, who claimed a 3-0 victory in the court next door, set the tone for their teammates that followed.

Sophomore Laura Gemmell, who has yet to drop a single match in her collegiate career, hit the court after Guruge and Kingshott and faced off against Cornell freshman Jesse Pacheco in the No. 1 match.

Gemmell continued her string of three-game victories—she has yet to drop a game in regular season play—and defeated Pacheco, 11-3, 11-2, 11-4. It was the third loss for Pacheco, who thus far has seen action only in the No. 2 slot.

Mumanachit and junior Cece Cortes also took to the courts in the final round of play, and both women churned out 3-0 sweeps in the No. 4 and No. 7 positions, respectively.

“I think everyone was pretty happy with how she played,” Mumanachit said of her team’s performance.

Mashruwala agreed with her teammate’s assessment.

“The girls were very fired up,” she said. “We knew playing Cornell is always an important match...everyone played very good squash.”

Mashruwala, for her part, started off the match alongside senior Bethan Williams and junior June Tiong.

Mashruwala and Williams both blanked their opponents, 3-0, playing No. 3 and No. 9, respectively.

At No. 6, Tiong recovered from a first-frame loss to beat Big Red junior and co-captain Lauren Sachvie, 8-11, 11-2, 11-4, 11-7.

With the first half of the season over, the ladies now have over a month until their next match against Bates.

But the team is careful to stay motivated with tough matches looming in the second half of the season.

“We’re looking forward to the competition after New Year’s,” said Mumanachit. “Those will be the bigger matches and the true test of our capabilities.”

To that end, the squad is determined to stave off the pressure of recapturing last year’s national title.

“The most important thing is that we haven’t been thinking about last year at all,” Mashruwala said of this season’s success and the team’s future goals. “We started this season with a new slate...We’re looking at it one match at a time.”

—Staff writer Molly E. Kelly can be reached at mkelly@college.harvard.edu.