Harvard Ends Regular Season On High Note

The No. 2 Harvard Women’s Squash team (8-1, 5-1 Ivy) put an exclamation point on an exemplary season with a 6-3 victory over rival No. 5 Yale (9-4, 3-4 Ivy) Wednesday evening at the Barnaby Courts to close out the regular season.

The victory helped assuage a heartbreaking 5-4 defeat to No. 1 Princeton last weekend and restored positive momentum to the team as it prepares to host the Howe Cup Championship this weekend.

With No. 1 sophomore June Tiong already out with an injury, Crimson Coach Satinder Bajwa took a risk resting No. 3 freshman Emily Park as a precaution heading into the championship weekend, but his coaching paid off.

“It was tough to leave Emily out, but in the end I had to take responsibility and just say, ‘well, blame me,’” Bajwa said.

“We keep telling ourselves that we have a team that anybody can be missing and we can still play well,” he added. “The girls have the ability and the belief to keep stepping up.”

That is not to say that it was easy­­—six out of the nine matches went to a decisive fifth set.

A thrilling 3-2 victory at No. 8 by junior Sandra Mumanachit was offset early by an equally heartbreaking defeat at the No. 3 spot.

Junior Katherine O’Donnell had a 2-1 edge over the Bulldogs’ Alia Aziz and was on the cusp of closing out a 9-0 undefeated season.

However, she was unable to put her talented opponent away, dropping the fourth game 4-9 and a marathon fifth 7-9.

A 3-2 victory by No. 4 sophomore Bethan Williams was offset by a 3-2 defeat at No. 7 with sophomore Alexandra Zindman falling 8-10, 9-6, 7-9, 10-8, 9-2, to Tara Wadhwa of Yale.

Playing three spots above her customary No. 7 flight, Williams’ performance is indicative of the depth and talent of the entire Harvard squad.

“We have a very strong team. They proved that they are better than the position they play,” No. 1 freshman Nirasha Guruge said.

No. 2 sophomore Alisha Mashruwala chalked another one up for the Crimson with a come-from-behind five-game nailbiter.

After taking the first set in short order, 9-1, Mashruwala’s play turned shaky and she dropped the next two 9-5 and 9-6.

However, excellent scrambling and fast reflexes in the front court earned her a 10-9 victory in the fourth set.

The final set was no contest as Mashruwala pulled away 9-5 to take the match 3-2 and raise her career five-game match record to 4-0.

Guruge capped the evening off at the No. 1 flight with an impressive five-game performance against the Bulldogs’ Logan Greer.

After quickly falling behind 2-0, Guruge turned her match around in the final three sets.

“I was just making too many mistakes in the first two sets and went into the third telling myself that I just can’t afford to make any more or I’ll lose the match,” she said. “I started playing deeper and safer, and it just came to me.”

Opening the third set, Guruge came out swinging, pounding winners all across the court—and pounding her opponent with an errant forehand that left a golf-ball sized bruise.

Guruge took a tight third game 9-8 and, against a dispirited Greer, ran away with the fourth and fifth games, 9-6 and 9-5, to take the match 3-2 and record her first career victory at the top flight.

A one-sided 9-5, 9-0, 9-0 victory by rising star freshman Cece Cortes at the No. 6 spot and an efficient 3-1 win by No. 5 junior captain Johanna Snyder offset an early 3-0 loss by No. 9 freshman Elizabeth Shuman to turn the final score in the Crimson’s favor.

With an 8-1 regular season record, a second place Ivy League finish, and home-court advantage, Harvard will likely be the team to beat in this weekend’s Howe Cup.

The tournament opens Friday at the Barnaby Courts and runs through Sunday.

The Crimson’s main competition this weekend will be Princeton, who narrowly defeated Harvard 4-5 at home on Sunday.

“You could call [the loss to Princeton] just a bit of a hiccup,” Bajwa said. “I truly believe that if they carry on the way they played today that the National Title is within their grasp.”

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