W. Squash Celebrates National Title

Ivy League Champions and National Champions.

Is there a need to say anymore?

The 2000-01 women's squash team ebbed and peaked at all the right times, cruising through the early schedule, taking a tough 5-4 loss to Trinity in stride on Feb. 3, bouncing back with a 5-4 victory the next weekend at Pennsylvania and showing the heart of champion by beating the Bantams 6-3 to win the Howe Cup and a national title on Feb. 18.

Despite the mid-season loss to Trinity, the parity between the two teams was evident. Carlin Wing, Katie Gregory, Kristin Wadwha and Ella Witcher all won their individual matches, thriving under highly emotional and competitive conditions. Although the sold-out crowd at the Murr Center's Barnaby Courts would go home disappointed that day, the Crimson's confidence was not shaken.

"I know my teammates gave everything they had," Wing said immediately after the match. "Just because [Trinity] was the better team yesterday doesn't mean they're going to be the better team in a few weeks time."

Wing's words would be prophetic, but in the mean time Harvard had to brace itself for a road trip to the Keystone state to face defending national champion Penn and 1999 champion Princeton.

The Crimson's bottom third proved to be its saving grace, as Gregory, Ashley Harmeling and Wadwha each swept their respective matches. Harmeling made it particularly clear how deep the Crimson roster was, as she conceded only three points in her 9-3, 9-0, 9-0 knockout of Quaker freshman Quincy Riley.

A 5-4 win the next day over Princeton allowed Harvard to travel to New Haven with just one blemish on its record. Seeded second behind Trinity, the Crimson knew that if the draw played out as expected it would get another shot at its rival.

After soundly thrashing Dartmouth in the opening round, 9-0, and waltzing past Penn 6-3 in the semifinals, the highly anticipated showdown with Trinity became a reality.

Harvard had reason to enter the match with supreme confidence, considering that it was receiving production from both the top and bottom of the lineup. In her nailbiting match with the Quakers' Runa Reta, Harvard's No.1 Louisa Hall had set the tone for the entire weekend by staving off Reta's charges to eventually finish off on top.

Although Harvard had already clinched the match before Hall scored her victory, the Herculean effort sent a message to Trinity that Harvard would not back down.

"We knew we could beat Trinity, and saw this second match with them not so much as revenge but as a time to prove ourselves," said senior co-captain Virginia Brown. "When it came down to the final push, we had the guts to pull through."

Harvard's guts were never so apparent as when Witcher, Wing, and Brown launched furious comebacks to secure their victories. For other players, however, the afternoon was less about guts and more about sheer dominance. No. 2 Margaret Elias dominated All-American Janine Thompson in three games, and Wadhwa and Harmeling also cruised to victory.

For Harvard's seniors-Virginia Brown and Katie Gregory-the win was particularly sweet because it marked the first time that the Howe Cup has been returned to Cambridge since it rested comfortably here from 1993-1997.

"This was very special for me as a senior," Brown said. "Not only because this is pretty much the highest honor in collegiate squash and something that I have dreamed of winning and worked toward each season since I was a freshman, but also because of the team that I won it with."

Talented, fun, and amazing were only some of the superlatives that Brown used to describe her teammates.

All-American might also be another apt adjective, at least for four of these women.

Elias and Louisa Hall earned first-team All-American status, while Carlin Wing and Colby Hall earned spots on the second-team.

Ultimately, the individual glory will be only secondary to the team success. There is something spectacular and unforgettable about being a national champion that none of these women will forget.

And while the returning players will be hungry for another championship, Brown and Gregory can feel satisfied that they have joined the lofty ranks of previous generations of Harvard squash national champions.