Women's squash continues winning streak against Vassar and Franklin & Marshall

Continuing its unbeaten streak, women's squash swept both Vassar and Franklin & Marshall last Sunday. The Tigers' record improved to 4-0 with the victories.

The Tigers played Vassar first, soundly defeating the Brewers 9-0. No. 1 Ruchika Kumar bested her opponent, Vassar's Sara Wood, in three short games. The scores for each game were 9-1, 9-1, 9-0. In fact, such was the quality of the Princeton women's play that no opposing player throughout the weekend scored a single game. All eighteen matches were won 3-0.

"Both teams are Div. III and have never posed much of a challenge in recent years," junior Elizabeth Johnson said. "But we play them for fun and out of tradition. F&M used to be quite good I hear."

The Tigers' No. 2 player, sophomore Patricia Gadsden, won 9-2, 9-3, 9-2. Sophomore Frances Comey, Princeton's No. 3, vanquished Emily Morris, 9-0, 9-1, 9-3. The second Frances on the team, sophomore Frances McKay, then dismissed Vassar's Camillia Lancaster 9-2, 9-1, 9-1 in the fourth-seeded position.

The No. 5 seed, freshman Anne Warner, crushed Brynne Lahner by a score of 9-2, 9-0, 9-1. Team No. 6, freshman Rebecca Shingleton, handily trounced Ali Hoe, 9-0, 9-4, 9-1. Senior captain Jennifer Shingleton, playing in the No. 7 position, won out against Vassar's Jen Guyther 9-0, 9-2, 9-1.

Johnson, taking on Vassar's No. 8 seed, Katie Siegel, casually overwhelmed her 9-0, 9-1, 9-0. Finally, junior Caroline Yao, playing a fired-up and highly competitive Jessica Labun, overcame her opponent 9-7, 9-5, 9-7.

The follow-up match against Franklin & Marshall was no less a rout. Only rarely did a F&M player score more than several points. Gadsden, playing No.1 this time for the Tigers, craftily beat F&M's Jessica Galitzen, 9-2, 9-1, 9-0. McKay also moved up several positions, playing No. 2 against Beatrice-Ann Kirkbright, whom she expediently dismissed 9-2, 9-5, 9-0.

Warner, playing in the No. 3 spot, also managed a quick victory. She crushed Minal Patel in three flawless games, 9-0, 9-0, 9-0. Rebecca Shingleton, the Tigers' No. 4 player, fought hard and trounced her opponent, F&M's Karley Biggs, 9-0, 9-1, 9-2. Her sister, Jennifer Shingleton, now in the No. 5 spot, followed her earlier performance with another V, winning out against Maureen Gogan, 9-0, 9-1, 9-0.

Johnson, moving up to the No. 6 position, overwhelmed the unfortunate Elizabeth Denenberg 9-2, 9-0, 9-0. And Yao, playing as Princeton's No. 7 seed, easily overcame F&M's Anna Shepherd, 9-0, 9-0, 9-0.

Both the Nos. 8 and 9 seeds won by default.

"The solid 10-0 match score is a great victory for the team," Johnson said.

"But we know that harder competition is coming up when we play Harvard, Yale and Dartmouth in the next couple of months. As we approach the big matches we will be playing more matches in practice, but since we still have some time, fitness is still one of our main focuses right now."