The No. 10 women's squash team traveled to Philadelphia this weekend to face Penn, Stanford University, Drexel University and Princeton. The Bears defeated Drexel 9-0 but ultimately fell 8-1 to No. 4 Penn, 9-0 to No. 5 Princeton and 9-0 to Stanford. The No. 16 men turned in a similar result, also beating No. 29 Drexel but falling to the No. 10 Quakers and No. 3 Tigers.
Lydia Smith '13 easily handled her Drexel match and won 3-0. She gave a strong effort against Penn but lost 3-1. Kyla Harrington '13 also won her Drexel match 3-0 and was the lone player to win her Penn match, turning in an outstanding come-from-behind performance to win 3-1.
"The scores don't reflect how close it really was," Smith said, referring to the team's 9-0 loss to Stanford. "Every game was super close, and we were right there with them. They're a really deep team just like we are. It was definitely a fight."
The team then drove to Princeton Saturday to face the Tigers. The team fell 9-0, but Smith felt positively about the Bears' efforts.
"They're a highly ranked team. They are very solid players, so we just played the best we could," she said.
Smith went on to praise the performances of Sarah Domenick '14 and Kathryn Yates '14.
"Domenick had a really good match against her opponent," she said. "Katie Yates is a mid-year transfer from Middlebury, and she's been a good addition to the team. She played a good match against Princeton."
Now the Bears are back in Providence, using the losses as a learning experience to prepare for two tough Ivy matches this week.
"For a lot of people, it was a question of movement and fitness, and I think that with the higher teams, movement came into play a lot," Smith said. "We're going to be looking to train solidly and play aggressively. One of the biggest things we focus on is playing our game and not being nervous in front of teams ranked higher than we are."
The team will travel to Boston to face top-ranked Harvard Friday before hosting No. 8 Dartmouth Sunday in the team's last home match of the season.
"It's our last home match, and we're really hoping for a good turnout," Smith said. "For the women's team, it's one of our biggest matches of the year. It should be great squash."
The men's team defeated Drexel 8-1, but then fell 7-2 to Penn and 9-0 to Princeton.
Co-captain Brad Thompson '13 and Charles Lebovitz '14, also a Herald opinions editor, were the two Bears victorious against Penn, winning 3-0 and 3-2, respectively.
"Any time you're able to get some wins against a team as strong as Penn, you have to be somewhat pleased," said Chris Holter '13. "Of course, we're not satisfied with a 7-2 loss, but we're definitely proud of the way Chip and Brad played in their wins."
The Bears defeated Drexel with strong performances across the board.
"Drexel has improved dramatically over the past few years," Holter said. "We were very pleased with a 8-1 win. We played some of our best squash of the season."
Now the team is preparing to face No. 26 Tufts University, No. 4 Harvard and No. 7 Dartmouth this coming week. Tufts and Dartmouth will be the last home games of the season, and the team is hoping to have plenty of fan support.
"Tufts is a must-win match for us," Holter said. "So we hope to see some fans in the stands."
