Hartford, CT-Five members of the women's squash team traveled to Trinity College this past weekend to compete among the top squash players in the country in the National Individuals Championships. Two Ephs qualified for the Ramsay Division, a draw featuring the top 32 players, while three more Ephs made it into the Holleran Division.
Competing in the top Ramsay Division were co-captains Toby Eyre and Jennifer Coxe who led this year's team to an eighth place national ranking for the season. Seeded number 5 going into this weekend's draw, Eyre cruised past her first round opponent, Cheri-Ann Parris of Bates, in three games (6, 2, 6). Eyre then faced a tougher opponent in Dartmouth's Valeria Weins, eventually taking her down in five games (7, 7, 8-11, 4-11, 7). In the quarterfinals, Eyre went up against hometown rival Logan Greer of Yale, who she had beaten earlier in the season in three. This time, however, Greer prevailed, taking down Eyre in four games (9, 9, 5-11, 3).
In the first round of the tournament, Coxe faced Stanford's Pamela Chua, who had beaten Coxe earlier in the season in four. Despite falling again in four, Coxe was able to improve on the earlier score, playing each game close (8, 10, 9-11, 10). Coxe then faced off with Penn's Yarden Odinek in the first consolation draw. Coxe came out on top after a grueling five game match that pitted her against Jaime Laird of Cornell (5, 5, 7-11, 10-12, 5). Laird would eventually win this rematch, but not before Coxe took the second and fourth games, after battling the first game into overtime (13, 10-12, 6, 10-12, 8).
Three Ephs had similarly success in the Holleran Division of the tournament. Sophomore Courtney Bogle entered the tournament with the number four seed, giving her a first round bye before squaring off with Vassar's Emilie Kraft, who Bogle quickly took down in three games (7, 7, 4). She then took on Cornell's Liza Stokes, falling in three games, which placed her in the third consolation draw where she faced Dartmouth's Rebecca Lau. Though she had beaten Lau earlier in the season, Bogle could not convert in the close games, this time falling to her in four (9, 11-7, 13, 11).
Eph freshmen Alli Rubin and Laura Henry had especially successful runs in the tournament. After each dropping their first round matches--Rubin fell to Brown's Laura Pyne in five, 9-11, 3-11, 8, 1, 7 and Henry was defeated by Princeton's Nikki Sequeira in three, 7, 2, 6--they were placed in the first consolation draw. Henry took on Wesleyan number one, Casey Simchik, easily handling her in three games (3, 7, 3). She then made quick work of Mt. Holyoke's Laura Robinson, dropping just 13 points en route to the three game victory (5, 5, 3). In the quarterfinals, Henry took out Brown freshman (and Williamstown native) Sarah Crosky, dropping a close second game, before closing out the match in four (9, 10-12, 8, 6). Henry had a similarly close semifinal match with Northeastern's Tessa Martin, ultimately prevailing in four (5-11, 13, 9, 9).
Rubin, who received a first round bye, faced Vassar's Kristine Bell. Having a tough time closing out the match after quickly going up two games, Rubin dropped the next two. Yet, learning from her first round defeat, Rubin took down Bell in the fifth game 11-6 (2, 4, 10-12, 7-11, 6). She then took on Hamilton senior Kelly Whipple, dropping close second and fourth games, before again prevailing in the fifth (4, 9-11, 5, 12-14, 9). In the semifinals, Rubin played Samantha Smith of Colby, and in her fourth consecutive five game match in two days, took down Smith 11-9 in the fifth (2-11, 6, 5, 6-11, 9).
Rubin and Henry then met in the finals of consolation draw, where Rubin, after going up two games, played a remarkable fifth consecutive five-game match, eventually falling to Henry 14-12 in the fifth (6-11, 10-12, 5, 8, 12). The results of this tournament catapulted these two freshmen more than fifty spots in their individual rankings, boding well for the success of the Williams team in the coming years.
