POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – The No. 33 Haverford Women's Squash team picked up a pair of wins at the Vassar Round Robin on Saturday afternoon, taking down No. 41 Denison by a final of 8-1, before edging out the No. 32 Brewers by a 5-4 final. The Fords improve to 4-1 on the season with the pair of triumphs. The 4-1 start is the best mark through the first five matches in program history.
No. 33 Haverford 8, No. 41 Denison 1
Haverford was forced to default at the No. 9 position due to illness, but made quick work of the Big Red regardless. Hannah Adler's match was the first to finish as the sophomore swept Emma Halpern at the sixth flight (11-2, 11-4, 11-4). Eva Tamkin then surrendered just three total points in a sweep of Annie Hartman at the eighth position (11-2, 11-1, 11-0).
The third match to finish featured Shreya Singh locked in a battle with Ellie Blue at No. 3. Singh won the first game convincingly, but Blue rallied to even the match before Singh prevailed in the third game in extra points, and was able to cruise in the fourth (11-2, 8-11, 13-11, 11-5).
Stephanie Lukez surrendered just three total points in her sweep of Gloria Appiah at the seventh flight (11-0, 11-1, 11-2), and Sunny Chai also swept Sarah Spire (11-7, 11-4, 11-4) at the fifth flight to clinch victory for the Fords. Urgyen Wangmo made quick work of Lily Pigott (11-5, 11-1, 11-3) at the fourth flight, and Maddie Hager allowed just three points in her sweep of Catherine Oxholm at number two (11-1, 11-0, 11-2). Kaitlin Reese prevailed in an 11-4, 11-2, 11-3 sweep over Maddie Kaufman in the last match to finish at the top flight.
Haverford is now 3-0 all-time against Denison. The squads previously met during the 2016-17 campaign at Dickinson.
No. 33 Haverford 5, No. 32 Vassar 4
In a match that had the feeling of a postseason meeting, Haverford was able to edge out the host Brewers for the first time since 2015. Tamkin defeated Nicole Pihlstrom in a sweep at the eighth flight (12-10, 11-9, 11-6). Adler fell to Allegra von Hirschberg at the sixth flight, and the Fords found themselves in a slight 2-1 hole due to the default at the ninth flight.
The next match to finished featured Vassar's Julia Pollak getting the best of Singh in a five-game thriller at the third flight. Pollak won the first game before Singh rallied to take a 2-1 lead. Pollak roared back with 11-7 and 11-2 victories to seal an 11-3, 7-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-2 victory that gave Vassar a 3-1 lead in the match.
Chai helped Haverford pull to within one at 3-2 with a dominating sweep of Alexa Elias (11-5, 11-4, 11-1) at the fifth flight. Isabel Bronson put Vassar on the brink of victory with a sweep of Lukez at the seventh position (11-2, 11-4, 11-7), but the Fords pulled back to 4-3 with a victory from Wangmo at the fourth flight, as she swept Amanda Watson (11-5, 11-7, 11-8). The momentum kept growing for the Fords as Hager swept Alessandra Pilkington (11-6, 11-1, 11-6) at the second flight to tie things and give Haverford a chance for victory with Reese anchoring the ladder at the top flight.
Reese delivered for the visitors, with an exciting 12-10, 11-0, 11-8 victory to allow Haverford to spoil the home party for Vassar. Reese is now a perfect 5-0 on the season at the top flight. In just her junior season, Reese has 26 wins for Haverford, the eighth-most in program history.
The Fords will now return to home action at the GIAC Squash Courts on Saturday, December 8, wrapping up the 2018 portion of the schedule against No. 37 Bard at 11 a.m.