ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The No. 30 Haverford College women's squash team opened up the 2017-18 season with a pair of sweeps, taking down Boston University and Johns Hopkins by identical 9-0 scores. Haverford opens up the season at 2-0. In total, the Fords dropped just one game in a very successful opening day at the Navy Round Robin. Haverford starts the season at 2-0 for the first time in program history. The Fords were able to gain the upper hand in their matches with a consistent approach, holding position in the center of the court, controlling points and keeping the ball deep into the back corners to turn away the opposition.
Haverford 9, Boston University 0
In the first match of the day, the squad started out with a 1-0 lead as the Terriers' ladder included just eight players on the afternoon. At the sixth position on the ladder, Grace Fioramonti-Gorchow dispatched Katherine Gianni by a final of 11-4, 11-7, 11-3 to give the Fords a 2-0 lead.
At the third position, first year Maddie Hager made her collegiate debut with a 11-1, 11-2, 11-2 victory over Normandie Essig. Sophie Jackson took down Shanna Shamrakov 11-3, 11-3, 11-8 for a commanding 4-0 lead at the eighth position and Isabelle Gotuaco clinched the match in favor of the Fords with an 11-1, 11-0, 11-4 victory at the second spot on the ladder.
Olivia Franco took down Rose Zhao at the seventh spot with a 11-3, 11-9, 11-9 win before sophomore Sunyoung Chai made her varsity debut with a four-game victory over Molly Papermaster (9-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-5) at the fifth spot. At No. 1, Kaitlin Reese got the best of Laura Ferriera-Cesar (11-4, 11-5, 11-1) and first year Tia Brown won her collegiate debut at the fourth spot over Jackie Loring (11-3, 11-3, 11-2).
The match-up was Haverford's first ever meeting with Boston University.
Haverford 9, Johns Hopkins 0
Mason McNulty picked up a victory over the Blue Jays' Berkeley Song at the ninth spot on the ladder (11-0, 11-1, 11-3) to begin the scoring for Haverford.
Fioramonti-Gorchow got the best of Gillian Hutter (12-10, 11-2, 11-4) at the sixth spot ahead of Jackson's win over Emma Paine at the eighth position (11-1, 11-5, 11-7). Hager took down Charlotte Kim (11-6, 11-1, 11-2) at the third position while Chai clinched the match at the fifth spot with an 11-3, 12-10, 11-3 win over Allegra Rapoport.
Gotuaco breezed past Courtney Cowell at the second spot (11-3, 11-2, 11-7) while Franco took down Nora Jandhyala at the seventh position on the ladder (11-2, 11-7, 11-9). Reese improved to 2-0 on the young season with a top spot battle against Carley Petrone (11-6, 11-2, 11-3. Brown completed the second 9-0 sweep of the day with a 11-5, 11-6, 11-4 win over Manavi Mongia.
The Fords are now 9-9 all-time against Johns Hopkins, including three straight victories.
Off the heels of a successful start to the season, Haverford next returns to action on December 2 at the Vassar Invitational. The Fords will do battle with No. 15 Bates and No. 29 Vassar with the action beginning at 1 p.m in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.