Undefeated W. Squash Hopes To Upset Bantams

Sooner or later, every streak must come to an end.

That’s what the No. 4 Harvard women’s squash team is counting on when it plays longtime nemesis No. 2 Trinity this afternoon at the Murr Center. Though undefeated so far this season, the Crimson (4-0, 3-0 Ivy) has not managed a win against the Bantams (3-1) since 2001, when Harvard last won a women’s squash national championship.

“Every year is a new year,” said co-captain Lindsey Wilkins. “They’ve always been really strong...but I think every one of our players is comparable with every one of theirs.”

While the Crimson breezed through the early portion of its schedule with little resistance from Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth and Williams, the matchup with Trinity marks the start of a grueling February stretch in which Harvard will tackle defending league and national champion No. 1 Yale as well as No. 3 Princeton and No. 5 Penn.

A win against the Bantams would not only give the Crimson much-needed momentum heading into its toughest competition and improve its seeding at the Howe Cup in March. It would also reverse a three-year losing streak.

In 2002 and 2003, Trinity essentially dominated the collegiate scene, going undefeated en route to two Howe Cup victories. It was only last season that Yale, now ranked No. 1, ended the Bantam reign with dual meet and Howe Cup wins.

This season’s first rematch between the Bulldogs and Trinity came a week ago on Jan. 26. Yale emerged with a 7-2 win, dominating at the bottom of the ladder.

But the Bantams, though missing their No. 2 player Vaidehi Reddy due to illness, still managed to hang tough with the Bulldogs’ best. Most notably, Trinity’s No. 1 Lynn Leong knocked off Yale’s Michelle Quibell, the top-ranked intercollegiate player who had not lost a match in two years.

Leong, an experienced player currently ranked No. 5 in the nation, has long proven a foil for the Crimson in four years of intercollegiate play. She will most likely face off against sophomore transfer and intercollegiate No. 6 Kyla Grigg.

Co-captain Hilary Thorndike said that one of the keys for Harvard will be its bevy of younger standouts like Grigg and freshmen Supriya Balsekar and Jen Blumberg, both ranked in the top 10 in the country.

“The freshmen are really strong in the sense that they don’t get on court and choke—they’re great competitors,” Thorndike said. “Having the freshmen in those high slots will really help.”

The Bantams’ recent loss could indicate that Harvard’s longtime foe is reeling and vulnerable to a Crimson upset—or stinging and eager to take out its frustration on Harvard. While Trinity lost several of its top players to graduation this season, including two-time Individuals champion Amina Helal, the Bantams undoubtedly remain one of the nation’s top two teams.

And a match with the Crimson adds another level of intensity.

“Trinity always has a vendetta against Harvard, whether we’re No. 1 or No. 4 like this year,” Thorndike said. “The loss to Yale won’t hold them back.”

In preparation for the match, the coaches have stressed the importance of a relaxed attitude. Since the Crimson is a heavy underdog, some of the pressure of previous years is absent.

“In previous years, we maybe psychoanalyzed it too much,” Thorndike said. “There are some ways to compare the teams, but we haven’t been focusing on it too much.”Harvard is hoping to benefit from its intersession training trip to California, where the Crimson recovered from exam period with a non-stop barrage of match play. The squad played a variety of opponents, including adults and club teams, providing a change in the type of competition. The Crimson also played exhibitions against both the Stanford men and women. These teams, only recently established, presented a very different style of play from Harvard’s typical intercollegiate opposition.

“College kids have a textbook game, versus the guys we were playing from Stanford,” Thorndike said. “They were strong, in great shape, scrappy—a totally different type of player. And then the older people have a lot wiser play. It was just a good mix. It’s nice to get out of the comfort zone.”

This afternoon, the Crimson hopes that the confidence and energy from the training trip will provide the boost necessary to break an ignoble three-year tradition.

“They are always hungry to beat Harvard every year, and Harvard’s always hungry to beat them,” Wilkins said. “They come out with their guns blazing, hungry and ready to play.”

—Staff writer Lisa J. Kennelly can be reached at kennell@fas.harvard.edu.