Crimson Gains Momentum With Big Win

The No. 4 Harvard women’s squash team (6-0, 3-0 Ivy) opened the second half of its season in style, scoring an impressive 7-2 upset win over No. 3 Trinity (8-1) last night at the Barnaby Courts.

The victory marked the first win for the Crimson over the Bantams in two years and avenged a 6-3 setback in the first round of last season’s Howe Cup.

With top flight sophomore June Tiong out with a back injury, Harvard coach Satinder Bajwa was forced to shuffle his lineup with the majority of the team playing a flight up.

“It was really a blessing in disguise,” Bajwa said. “It showed the courage and character of our team that they are not just good [at their position], but that they can step up when they need to.”

The Crimson was strong in all flights and in all years.

Junior captain No. 6 Johanna Snyder, sophomore No. 9 Alexandra Zindman, and freshman No. 3 Emily Park gave Harvard an early 3-0 advantage with efficient 3-1 victories.

Snyder won her match, 9-1, 9-5, 3-9, 9-1. Zindman finished with a final score of 3-9, 9-5, 9-3, 9-1, and Park emerged victorious, 9-6, 2-9, 9-4, 9-2.

A 3-9, 9-3, 9-0, 9-1 come-from-behind win by sophomore No. 5 Bethan Williams was offset by a heartbreaking five-game loss at the No. 8 spot.

Junior Sandra Mumanachit took a 2-0 lead, but faded late, falling 9-5, 9-4, 8-10, 6-9, 1-9 to Trinity’s Emily Paton.

The Crimson won its fifth and clinching match on a thrilling five-game victory by sophomore Alisha Mashruwala at the No. 2 flight.

After taking a 2-0 lead and cruising towards her sixth win of the year, Mashruwala was unable to convert on multiple match balls in the third and fourth games.

She dropped both by a score of 8-10 to force a deciding fifth game, the first of the season and second of her career.

“I came off the court [after the fourth game] telling myself to forget what had just happened,” Mashruwala said. “I went into the fifth like it was the first game and I was just getting into the match.”

There was no choking as Mashruwala jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead and held on to win the game, 9-4, and take the match, 3-2.

Junior No. 4 Katherine O’Donnell battled in a hard-fought match featuring wild momentum swings and lengthy rallies, ultimately prevailing, 2-9, 9-6, 10-8, 9-0, to raise her season record to 6-0.

In the crucial third game, O’Donnell came from behind against Bantam JoAnn Jee to set up the victory.

Freshman Nirasha Guruge, playing at the top flight in place of Tiong, fell 3-0, while No. 7 freshman Cece Cortes, playing her first collegiate match, prevailed 3-0, to tally the final score.

Ranked No. 3 in the country, Trinity represented the most formidable opponent that Harvard has faced this season. Not only did the team match up against the power and shot-making ability of the Crimson players, but they also challenged the team’s fitness and mental fortitude.

Prior to yesterday’s match, Harvard as a team had only played one match out of 45 that extended beyond three games, while yesterday against the Bantams, seven out of the nine matches were decided in four or five games.

“You can be fit, but if you are not mentally strong, you can still lose the match,” Bajwa said.

“This team stood up to a very stiff challenge from Trinity and should be very proud,” he added.

The Crimson came into the match with momentum, having defeated No. 8 Stanford, 8-1, on Jan. 23. The team can only revel in its victory for two days before it continues its brutal stretch of scheduling.

Harvard hits the road this weekend to take on No. 2 Penn on Saturday afternoon and No. 1 Princeton on Sunday.

The team then returns to Cambridge for its home finale against No. 5 Yale next Wednesday.

The Crimson is 2-6 against the three collectively over the past two seasons, but will seek to use the momentum generated by its victory over Trinity to improve on that mark heading into the season-ending Howe Cup.

“This win was amazing for everybody on the team. We are going to go in confident, but not too confident,” Mashruwala said. “Everybody is out to beat us now.”

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