Facing a winless Franklin & Marshall squad, the women’s squash team was confident it could emerge with a convincing victory — so confident that it gave captain Kristen Lange the night off, moving everyone up one spot on the ladder.
Few could have predicted, however, the extent of the sweep that ensued.
The No. 4 Quakers (2-0, 1-0 Ivy) defeated the No. 23 Diplomats 9-0 last night in an astoundingly short match that ran just under 90 minutes.
And the dominant performance extended even further as Penn posted 3-0 victories at all positions, never surrendering more than six points in a game to F&M; (0-2).
“We all stayed really focused, and we all played really well,” senior Christina Matthias said. “We were each given something to work on tonight, and everyone executed the game plan really well.”
The Quakers’ supremacy was already evident in their first three matches. No. 3 Yarden Odinak, No. 6 Annie Madeira and No. 9 Stephanie Vogel each allowed fewer than three total points.
“[Vogel] was rock solid,” coach Jack Wyant said. “Annie has never had any slump whatsoever. How she played tonight is just a reflection of her year here at Penn.”
Odinak and Vogel are just two of the five freshmen who have continued to excel in their first year of collegiate squash, moving to a collective 8-1 on the season.
“I continue to be very impressed with all the freshmen,” Wyant said. “Their performance in the matches so far is a reflection of their attitude and their attention to detail during practice.”
Coming off of tough losses in the season opener against Cornell, freshman No. 1 Nabilla Ariffin and senior No. 2 Sydney Scott emerged with their first wins of the season.
“Nabilla is an excellent player, and I was pleased to see how well she performed at number one tonight,” Wyant said. “And Sydney, I never worry about her. She always shows up for us in the big matches, and she played very well tonight.”
And in one of the last matches of the night, after two fairly contested games, No. 7 Matthias closed with a convincing 11-0 win.
“I went out in the third game, and I wanted to really focus to bring it to a close,” Matthias said.
The Quakers hope to carry this confidence with them into a pair of Ivy matches this weekend.
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