Women's squash takes third at Howe Cup

For the first time in years, the pressure was off women's squash at the Howe Cup. At least that's the way it appeared.

"We weren't supposed to win, so it was a lower-pressure situation," senior No. 1 Julia Beaver said. "For the seniors, it was our last Howe Cup and we wanted to give good performances. I also think we had nothing to lose."

The Tigers were seeded No. 4 for this tournament, behind Penn, top-ranked Trinity and eventual champion Harvard. Princeton's hopes for a surprise run to the championship were dashed in the semifinals by Trinity, 8-1, as only freshman No. 4 Annie Rein-Weston managed a win.

Nevertheless, that loss gave the Tigers a chance to take on their arch-rival, Penn, in the third place match. Princeton was looking to avenge both its early-season loss to the Quakers and last year's defeat in the finals of the Howe Cup.

With something to prove in their last chance at revenge, all four seniors on the team — Beaver, No. 2 Meredith Quick, No. 7 Rebecca Gutner and No. 8 Lauren Martin — pulled out victories. Beaver avenged her loss during the season to Penn's No. 1 player with a 3-1 win. Quick was more efficient, notching a dominant 9-2, 9-1, 9-0 win. The 5-4 victory over the Quakers secured a third place finish for the Tigers.

To reach the later stages of the tournament, the Tigers had needed to top Cornell in the opening round. In the teams' early-season matchup, won by the Tigers, the Big Red had been without the services of their No. 1 player, Olga Puigdemont-Sola, who had been playing for her native Spain. The addition of Cornell's top player made no difference, however, as Beaver steamrolled her in three games. Six other Tigers backed Beaver with wins, giving Princeton a 7-2 victory.

While the women's team was competing in its most important match of the year, the men's team was heading for its most difficult. Trinity, the defending national champion, was even more loaded this season with nationally-ranked players from all over the globe and used its talent to beat Princeton, 8-1, in Hartford, Conn.

The lone bright spot for the Tigers was at the No. 2 spot, where Will Evans beat Lefike Ragonste, 3-1. Evans capitalized on Ragonste's late mistakes to take the match.

The Tigers did not stay down for long. The next morning, Princeton stomped Amherst, 9-0. In the afternoon, the Tigers played then-No. 6 Williams, winning 8-1. The Tigers won two five-game matches, and dropped one 15-13 in the fifth.

The roles will be reversed next weekend, when the men's team heads for the National Team Championships at Yale, and the women's team faces Trinity in its final dual meet of the season.

The matchup with Trinity gives the women's team a chance to prove that the 8-1 shellacking they received at the Howe Cup was not an indication of its abilities. Beaver herself will have the opportunity to challenge Amina Helal, to whom she lost in five games this weekend.

"We can do better against them than we did this past weekend," Beaver said. "We want to show them they can't get away with an easy win."