Sun Shining on Squash

As the sun begins to shine again in Cambridge, Harvard athletes begin to abandon the confines of Hemenway Gymnasium, Blodgett Pool and Briggs Cage for the fresh smell of grass at Soliders Field.

But the squash courts still echo at Hemenway with sounds of yet another successful season for the Harvard women's squash team.

Rarely does a team accomplish everything that it expects in a season. But for the second straight year, the Harvard women's squash team did just that.

"It was a good season," Harvard Coach Steve Piltch said. "The team worked hard all year. I was very pleased by their performance."

Like last season, the Crimson not only went undefeated in season play (7-0 overall, 5-0 Ivy), but cruised all the way to the Triple Crown of squash, winning the seven-woman, nine-woman and Ivy titles.

"It was a great season," junior Sheila Morrissey said. "It's going to be a little tougher next year, but we're all looking forward to it."

The Crimson won 47 individual matches, while dropping only eight en route to its fourth national title.

Harvard also captured its second straight Howe Cup Tournament at Yale in February, snagging the seven-woman championship for the fourth time since the honor was created in 1976.

"It was a really good season," said Co-Captain Lucy Miller. "We pretty much knew what we could do, and we did it."

The racquetwomen knew the potential they had, especially after trouncing their first four opponents by a combined 23-4 count. Bowdoin (8-1), Brown (7-2) and second-ranked Trinity all took severe falls.

Harvard then recorded an 8-1 victory over a much-improved Penn squad, before exams and reading period interrupted its schedule.

At the Howe Cup, the racquetwomen had to fight off some tough opponents and a three-week layoff.

They did both, besting. Yale, Brown, Trinity and Dartmouth all by 7-0 scores.

Harvard then defeated Franklin and Marshall, 6-1, and earned the title with a 5-2 defeat of Princeton.

Co-Captain Diana Edge received the Betty Ritchie Award, an honor symbolic of an all-around outstanding person in the world of women's inter-collegiate squash. Edge was selected by the nation's coaches and team captains.

After winning the Howe Cup, the squad trounced Dartmouth and Yale both by 8-1 scores.

"Harvard has the most incredible team," said Melissa Persall, Yale's number six player. "Thank God some of them are graduating."

"Harvard is superb," Yale Coach Dale Walker said. "It was a match I never thought we'd do very well in."

In the last regular-season match, Harvard and Princeton both entered the match with undefeated records. The winner of the match would be declared the national champion.

The racquetwomen crushed Princeton, 8-1, in late February to win its second straight national nine-woman championship. One of the biggest matches of the day saw Edge defeat Princeton's Demer Holleran, the then number-one ranked amateur. Edge recorded a four-game victory over Holleran.

Edge secured the top ranked amatuer position with a four-game victory over Holleran in the Women's Intercollegiate Squash Racquets Championship at Dartmouth earlier this month.

"I've been coaching for 17 years and I've never seen a stronger team," Princeton's Betty Constable said. "They just blew us away. This was the worst defeat ever for us."

In addition to the impressive slew of team awards the Crimson earned this season, many of the racquetwomen also garnered individual honors.

Besides winning the Betty Ritchie award, Edge was named to her fourth straight Ivy and All-America squash teams.

Stephanie Clark and Jenny Holleran were also named All-America and All-Ivy. Co-Captain Lucy Miller snagged All-Ivy recognition.

In February, Edge won the U.S. Women's Nationals consolation championship--and took fifth place in the overall tournament--which included the top pro squash players.

Racquetwoman Sheila Morrissey won the first-round consolation championship at the ISA's for the second straight year, while Clark rebounded from, a first-round loss to finish in second place in the second-round consolation.

Interchangable

The 1987-'88 Crimson team was strong from number one to number nine. The players from three to seven were interchangeable.

The crimson also received help from two talented freshmen, Clark and Daphne Onderdonk. Clark posted an undefeated season, dropping only three games all season. Four other Crimson players--Edge, Emily Knowlton, Morrissey and Hope Nichols--went undefeated. Onderdonk continued to improve all year and was a force at the number eight and nine positions.

"When five of your players go undefeated, you're not going to lose any matches," Piltch said. "The others played equally as well."

"It was a great group to be around," Onderdonk said.

Next year, Holleran, Morrissey and Liz Reynolds will replace Edge and Miller as captains.

"We're going to lose a lot," Piltch said. "But I feel very good about the returning group."

At the end of the Harvard-Princeton match, Coach Constable said "we will get you next year."

One thing for sure, the Crimson will be ready.