Women's Squash Remains Undefeated With Win Over Penn

After falling behind 3-0 after three games, the Harvard women’s squash team looked likely to suffer its first loss of the season this Sunday.

But the Crimson (6-0, 3-0 Ivy), ranked No. 1 in the country, was quick to put the tough start behind it, winning the remaining six matches to oust conference rival No. 5 Penn (4-1, 1-1 Ivy) on Sunday. The 6-3 win at the Murr Center extended Harvard’s winning streak and preserved its undefeated record.

“I think that it was a great match overall,” junior co-captain Haley Mendez said. “We got off to a little bit of a rocky start, losing the first three matches. But it turned around from there.”

Junior Amanda Sobhy, who last year was named best overall player by the Dunlop Women’s College Squash Association, was part of the turnaround for the Crimson. She only let her opponent score 14 points throughout the entire match, winning in straight sets, 11-6, 11-3, 11-5, over freshman Anaka Alankamony, the Quakers’ number one-seeded player.

“It was really up to the girls that still had to go on to … put that behind us and really focus in on their own matches,” Mendez said. “[They had to] not worry about what was happening on the other courts.”

At an important juncture in the match, with Harvard trailing, 3-1, Mendez won a critical match against sophomore Yan Xin Tan, who finished fourth in the Dunlop Women's College Squash Association Individual Rankings last season. Despite a small hiccup in losing her second set, the co-captain pulled off the win, 11-9, 12-14, 11-7, 11-3.

“I was not the favorite going in,” Mendez said. “But I was able to stick to my game plan pretty well and I think I played some of the best squash I’ve played all season. I was happy to pull out the win for the team.”

The Crimson did not let up once it erased the three-match deficit. After pulling ahead, 4-3, Harvard just needed one win in its last two matches to pull off the victory. The Crimson did not leave any doubt, however, winning the remaining two matches to ensure the victory.

“Our goal was to not let them play their games, to not get stuck in their games and focus on our strengths,” Mendez said.

Despite losing her first set, sophomore Isabelle Dowling came back in the next three sets to ensure a key victory for Harvard. Sophomore Saumya Karki and freshman Dileas MacGowan – the fourth and seventh seeded Crimson competitors, respectively – both won in five sets in what proved to be critical matches.

“I was pretty confident [headed into the fifth set],” Karki said. “I believed I was a better player [than opponent Haidi Lala], that I was fitter and that she was more flustered than I was.”

The hot start in the match from Penn was indicative of the team’s success early this season. The loss is the first this year for the Quakers. The team had only lost one individual match the entire season, in a November 24th matchup against George Washington.

“Penn is a really strong team this year,” Mendez said. “They have a lot of new international freshmen that are playing very well for them.”

Freshman Michelle Wong of Malaysia provided Penn with one of its three match wins on the afternoon, defeating Harvard junior Julianne Chu in four sets. Seniors Chloe Blacker and Courtney Jones accounted for the Quakers’ other two wins.

“They were tough matches,” Karki said. “There was just one matchup that was one-sided. Everyone showed a lot of toughness. I thought that we were a much fitter team than them and more willing to fight for the points.”

The win over the Quakers concluded what was an impressive overall performance this weekend for the Crimson, taking down two ranked teams in Penn and No. 4 Princeton on back-to-back days.

“I think everyone just stayed really focused and put in a lot of effort and a lot of heart,” Karki said.

The Crimson has not lost a match in 363 days. Harvard has been even more impressive at home, remaining unbeaten at the Murr Center since February 12th, 2011 at the hands of archrival Yale. But despite these impressive winning streaks, the team was solely focused on celebrating the most recent win.

“The pressure was off of us,” Mendez said. “We weren’t expecting to win. But we knew that we are extremely fit, we’ve been working really hard, and we were prepared."

—Staff writer Kurt T. Bullard can be reached at kurtbullard@college.harvard.edu.