SquashTalk >CSA > 03-04 Vassar Womens Squash

CSA 03-04 Previews

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Squash Preview 03-04
The Brewers finished a tough but exciting 2002/03 season with a 12-9 record,
their first Seven Sisters title, promotion to Howe Cup Kurtz division and an
advancement of two places to number 15 in the WCSA national rankings. (See
2002/03 season review below for more detail.)

The Vassar team is scheduled for much travel this season and will enjoy the
opportunity to compete at schools they have not visited in recent years. As
well as opening the season at St. Lawrence in the inaugural UCAA
Championships the Brewers are looking forward to defending their Seven
Sisters Championship title at Mt. Holyoke. The Howe Cup at Yale is always a
season highlight and again the team aims to compete in the Kurtz division.

Always looking to improve the program, Vassar squash is now benefiting from
the recent appointment of Ben Oliner, as Assistant Coach to the men and
women’s teams. Ben, former number 1 player at Brown University, who moved
into the Poughkeepsie area in October, actually wears three different squash
coaching hats locally. In addition to his Vassar appointment he is the
Director of a new urban youth enrichment program and is also responsible for
coaching squash to members of the Poughkeepsie Tennis Club. Ben is already
having a positive impact on the team and his involvement should help the
Brewers achieve their goals this season.

NEW FRESHMEN BOLSTER LINEUP
Although the team was sorry to graduate three key members at the end of last year, they are very pleased to welcome three freshmen, Blair Komar, Judy Jarvis and Kat Hand, to the squad this season. Under the guidance of returning captain, Alex Ho (’04) and newly elected co-captain, Emily Morris (’05), the eager Brewers have been training hard since September to hopefully repeat the success of last season. Additionally, returning team members Anna Moser (’06), Katie Siegel (’06), Jessica Labun (’04), Sandy Eckel (’04) and Kalyani Iyer (‘06) went the extra mile in the off season training and have already shown great improvements to their playing level. Number 1 player, Sara Wood, is studying and training in France this semester but will return early in January with the team to train alongside some of the world’s best players who will be at Vassar to compete in the annual Class of 1932 WISPA tournament.

Vassar Women’s Squash Team Review 2002/03 Season
Vassar squash graduated two players from the team at the end of the 2001/02
season, after an amazing year where they climbed up the College Squash
Association (CSA) national rankings, from position 21 to 17.
The 2002/03 season sprang to an early start with weekly practice sessions
organized by co-captains, Alex Ho (’04) and Zane Bundy (’03). By the time
the official season kicked in, the squad comprised 16 enthusiastic and
fast-improving players, all committed to achieving the season’s goals and
battling for a place in the nine-player team line-up.

In addition to the growing experience of returning athletes, Anna Moser (06)
from Hong Kong came in at the number 2 position, bringing strength to the
team that facilitated the following goals:
- To break into CSA-W top 15 national ranking.
- To win the Seven Sisters Championship (Second last season)
- To play in the Howe Cup Division B. (Won division C last season)

Match play began with the inaugural Vassar Open event, which saw the Brewers
gain convincing 9-0 and 8-1 victories over Stanford and Mount Holyoke, but a
2-7 loss against St. Lawrence. Denitsa Petkova and Lizza Hanner secured the
home teams only wins against St. Lawrence who was ranked 16 nationally at
the time.

A December trip south brought two further 9-0 victories against Haverford
and Franklin and Marshall, together with a defeat by the same margin against
Princeton, ranked number 4, nationally. This produced a mid-season 4-2
record for the Brewers, which maintained their number 17 ranking position.
As is the norm for Vassar squash, the second semester started a week early
as players returned to campus to train in preparation for the rest of the
season. This year, however, the early return was greeted with more than
average enthusiasm, as the training week took place in Barbados! The first
few days were spent competing in an individual graded tournament organized
by Barbados squash Club coaches, Karen Hogarth and Sonia Perkins. This event
enabled each Vassar player to compete against local and overseas players of
her own level.

Four of the twelve Brewers placed in the top four of the following divisions:
- Division B; fourth, Emily Morris
- Division C; third, Brynne Lehner
- Division D; second, Katie Siegel and fourth, Zane Bundy.

The remainder of the week was spent practicing at the courts, playing scrimmages against locals, interval training on the beach and boogie boarding in the ocean!

On returning to campus and the snow, the players had two days to acclimatize before taking part in the Amherst Invitational event against Amherst and Colby. This was a key opportunity for Vassar to make a mark against higher ranked teams. Colby ranked 15 narrowly defeated the Brewers by a 5-4 margin, whilst Amherst, ranked 13, defeated Vassar 6-3. Emily Morris and Jenny Guyther just lost by a whisker in nail biting 2-3 finishes against Amherst.

In addition Nina Handelman, Alex Ho and Katie Siegel notched-up wins for Vassar. The Amherst event proved to be a confidence booster for the Brewers as they entered the fourth annual Seven Sisters championship with everything to play for. On the first day they claimed 9-0 victories over Haverford and Smith.

However, the Vassar side was unnerved to see Wellesley’s close 5-4 encounter with a much-improved Mount Holyoke side and realized they would need to focus on dominant yet risk-free play to win against these teams the next day. Facing Mount Holyoke first the Brewers maintained their composure to achieve a tight 6-3 victory. Jenny Guyther, Anna Moser and Sara Wood showed nerves of steel to come out on top in their long grueling 3-2 experiences.

In particular, number 1 player, Sara Wood, demonstrated sheer determination with her never say die approach to come back from a 0-2 deficit to settle the score against Liz Hughes. In the final against a seemingly deflated Wellesley side, Vassar romped to a convincing 8-1, championship victory. This result saw Vassa! r advance to the number 16 position in the rankings and, providing nothing unforeseen happened prior to the Howe Cup, a place in division B or the Kurtz Cup was secured.

A new event, the Vassar Round Robin, took place in conjunction with the third annual Class of 1932 World International Squash Players Association (WISPA) Tournament. Vassar took 9-0 wins over Connecticut College, Hamilton and Wesleyan. They suffered a 3-6 loss to St. Lawrence, however, the margin improved from their last meeting. The Brewers showed strength in depth with victories from Jenny Guyther, Katie Siegel and Jessica Labun.

The Brewers were all set to make their mark at the Howe Cup or team nationals and had been seeded number 7 in division B. During the week before they were disappointed to hear that number two player, Anna Moser was unable to compete due to class commitments.

Nevertheless, the team was motivated to at least meet their seeding, as this would help their overall ranking. In the first round, despite the absence of Moser, the Brewers still squeezed out three match wins over Amherst. Katie Siegel and Jessica Labun stormed to
3-0 victories whilst moving up to the number 3 position; Camilla Lancaster produced the best squash of her season to snatch a 3-1 win. In the next round Vassar faced its nemesis, St. Lawrence and once again, lost by a 3-6 margin. Vassar’s victors this time were Camilla Lancaster, Katie Siegel and Jessica Labun. The 7/8 play-off took place against Middlebury, a team we lost to in previous seasons. Although the 7-2 score line was in Vassar’s
favor, the Brewers had !to pull out the same strategy and determination they had employed to win the Seven Sisters event. Whilst Emily Morris, Jenny Guyther and Jessica Labun
had compelling 3-0 wins, Sara Wood and Nina Handelman had to maintain control to glean their 3-1 victories. In nerve-racking matches, Camilla Lancaster, Katie Siegel and Brynne Lehner went to the fifth game decider, with Lancaster and Siegel pulling it off in Vassar’s favor.

Their overall 12-9 record ended a long but exciting season. The Brewer’s met their goals by competing in the Howe Cup division B, finishing with a national ranking of 15 and their first Seven Sisters title. Additionally Vassar student athletes, Jessica Labun and Jenny Guyther were presented with the WCSA Scholar-Athlete Award for demonstrating their talents in the
classroom as well as the squash court.

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