Crimson Crushes Stanford On Road

The No. 4 Harvard women’s squash team (5-0, 3-0 Ivy) opened up 2009 with a convincing 8-1 victory on the road Friday over No. 6 Stanford (2-6). The win sets up a battle of unbeatens with No. 3 Trinity at the Barnaby Courts next week.

The Crimson won all of its matches except at the top flight, where sophomore June Tiong was forced to retire in the second game. A minor back injury became aggravated after a collision with a Cardinal player. She retired for precautionary measures and is expected to be healthy for Harvard’s next match.

For a team that has not played competitively in five weeks, the Crimson showed little rust against Stanford, the strongest opponent that the team has faced this season.

“We were really excited to get back on the court after exam period. We had the opportunity to practice beforehand to get back into a rhythm,” junior captain Johanna Snyder said. “This was our first difficult match and I felt we all played very well.”

Harvard was paced by its upperclassmen, all of whom recorded 3-0 sweeps. No. 6 Snyder rolled over Stanford’s Kyla Sherwood, 9-1, 9-0, 9-3. Fellow junior Katherine O’Donnell surrendered only six points en route to a 9-1, 9-0, 9-5 victory. No. 9 junior Sandra Mumanachit also recorded a 3-0 sweep. This was Mumanachit’s first match of the year in which she did not record a 9-0 whitewash game.

The Crimson’s younger players faced a tougher test but emerged victorious. After winning the first set, freshman No. 4 Emily Park dropped the second set, 7-9, but rallied to win the final two convincingly, 9-3, 9-1, to earn the 3-1 victory. Sophomore Alexandra Zindman dropped a tight third set, 8-10, but won a close-fought fourth set, 9-6, to hold on to win the match at No. 8, 3-1.

Harvard’s top flights continued to overwhelm their opponents. No. 2 freshman Nirasha Guruge moved to 5-0 on the season after a solid 9-1, 9-2, 9-5 victory. Sophomores No. 3 Alisha Mashruwala and No. 7 Bethan Williams also recorded 3-0 wins to complete the rout for the Crimson.

Harvard has been dominant in this first half of the season. No player has gone to a fifth game all year, and the team boasts a collective match record of 43-2.

Crimson coach Satinder Bajwa has emphasized the importance of using these early-season matches as opportunities for the players to hone and refine their shots in preparation for the more challenging matches that await.

“When they feel that the competition is not as strong, the players try to force out some of their weaknesses and test themselves,” Bajwa said in an earlier interview.

The degree to which these weaknesses have been forced out will soon come to light. Despite this being the toughest test yet for the team, it was but a warm-up for the brutal stretch of scheduling that February will bring.

The Crimson next takes on Trinity, undefeated and ranked third in the nation, on Feb. 4 at home. Trinity has defeated Harvard in five out of the past seven matches, including twice in 2008, the most recent being a 6-3 setback in the opening round of last years’s Howe Cup Championship.

However, the strong start to the season has inspired confidence in the team.

“We feel very confident going against Trinity,” Snyder said. “We are going to get on court as much as possible in the next week. All we’ll do is train.”

The Crimson then takes on No. 2 Penn and No. 1 Princeton during the first half of February heading into the season-ending Howe Cup Championship.

—Staff writer Barrett P. Kenny can be reached at bpkenny@fas.harvard.edu.