In the final home game of their careers and in front of their biggest crowd of the season, an emotional group of seniors led the women’s squash team to a 6-3 victory over rival Princeton at Ringe Courts.
The winner of Penn’s last three showdowns with the Tigers (3-2, 2-1) has continued on to become the Ivy League champion.
Coming off Saturday’s 5-4 loss to No. 2 Trinity, the Quakers (10-1, 4-0 Ivy) had an extra level of motivation beyond simply avenging their only loss on the season.
“We learned a lot from our matchup at Trinity,” coach Jack Wyant said. “After the loss, our goal tonight was to play more aggressively and to be more proactive in dictating the terms of the match, and I think we did a pretty good job.”
Senior captain Kristen Lange led the way at the No. 1 spot. Sweeping Princeton’s Amanda Seibert, Lange showed control over her opponent from the start.
“I just went in with the mindset that I can win, I’m going to win, and I’m going to play the best I can,” Lange said. “I’ve played this girl so many times, it’s just one of those cases where you know the opponents game inside and out.”
In the No. 8 spot, senior Christina Matthias kept her undefeated season intact, extending her winning streak to sixteen in her sweep of Princeton’s Casey Cortes.
The other two seniors were not as lucky. First, Britt Hebden lost in the No. 5 spot.
“She said to me that her dropped shots weren’t quite as accurate as she would have wanted,” Wyant said. “[Princeton’s Kaitlin Sennatt] is a tough match up for her.”
Long after Penn clinched the victory, senior Sydney Scott took the court in the No. 3 spot. She lost in what Wyant called, “an epic five-game match.”
In the fourth game, down 2-1 on the match, Scott jumped out to a 10-5 lead. But the senior then gave up 6 points in a row before ultimately emerging with a 15-13 victory.
And in the decisive fifth game, Scott fought her way back from a 0-5 start to take a 10-9 lead before falling 13-11.
“She showed a tremendous amount of effort,” Wyant said. He added that even with the outcome of the match decided, “[Scott] showed exactly the heart that we need to have for the rest of the season.”
For the four soon-to-be graduates, senior night was the first of many lasts in their overwhelmingly successful careers.
With this victory, the tetrad of girls is now a collective 45-8 including a 2-2 split with archrival Princeton.
“It was a really fun last [home] match for all the seniors,” Matthias said, “and it is sad that we won’t play in front of our friends and family again.”
And while the seniors might be feeling down, it is the Quakers’ squash program that will certainly take a hit when the girls step off the court for the last time in only a few weeks.
“They are an incredible group,” Wyant said. “The program really became a legitimate elite top team when those four decided to come here. Our success over the last four years is due in their talent, their effort, work ethic and determination.”
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