Racquetwomen Shine in Tourney

Three Harvard women's squash players participated in the Princeton Invitationals last weekend in Princeton, N.J., and two, Stephanie Clark and Co-Captain Sheila Morrissey, reached the semifinals of the feed-in consolation round before falling.

Junior Hope Nichols fell in the quarterfinals of the feed-in round.

A six-hour ride to Princeton seemed to hurt the three Crimson racquetwomen in the first round. All three lost their opening matches. The trio rebounded to win their second-round matches.

"It was kind of frustrating," Clark said. "We had some tough first-round matches. But we got our collective spirits together and played much better in the next round. I felt like I definitely didn't play as well as I could have."

Falling

In the first round, Clark dropped a tough decision to Yale's Berkley Bellknap. The loss placed Clark in the feed-in consolation round against Smith's Ashley Mears. Clark destroyed Mears in straight games. The sophomore then recorded her second straight shutout, blanking Middlebury's Vicky Hoyt. But in the semifinals, Clark was eliminated from the tournament by Princeton's Jenny Roos.

After dropping a five-game decision to Roos in the first round, Morrissey defeated Franklin and Marshall's number-one player. The senior recorded a four-game triumph over Nina Campbell of Trinity. But in the semifinals, Morrissey was defeated by Mary Foulk, Princeton's number-two player.

Nichols lost a straight-game decision to Hoyt in the first round, but rallied to capture a four-game victory over Trinity's Courtney Gillan in the feed-in round. However, Nichols was eliminated by Foulk in the quarterfinals.

"The tournament was good for us," Harvard Coach Steve Piltch said. "It gave us a good perspective where we are. Overall, it was a good productive weekend."

On the Road

The Crimson will travel to Connecticut for a big non-league match against Trinity Wednesday. Harvard hosts its first home match of the season against Bowdoin Friday.