Women's squash off to sizzling start in and out of Ivy League play

The story, so far, is in the statistics. 4-0. 934-217. 17-0

The first stat is the women's squash team's record thus far, representing four quality wins against Cornell, Brown, Vassar, and Franklin & Marshall. This seems to imply that the Tigers must be pretty good.

The second number is the total score, in points, from every game played by Princeton thus far this year. With more than four times as many points as their opponents, the Tigers has been steamrolling every opponent to cross their collective path. This, even more so than the first statistic, would seem to imply that not only are the Tigers pretty good, they might even be really good, or even great.

The third statistic is the combined records of the No. 1 Duke men's basketball team and the No. 1 Duke women's basketball team. This has little immediate relevance to the Tigers, but certainly seems to imply that both teams will reign as national champions come March.

In all seriousness, however, the Princeton women have been putting on a Blue Devil-esque display of prowess on the squash courts as of late. Out of every match played this year, only a handful have gone past the three-game minimum, and only an even smaller pinch taken out of the previous handful were ever in danger of becoming Princeton losses. This brings up a difficult question. Exactly how good are the Tigers? 4-0 with a 36-0 match record is as good as it gets, yes, but it's still pretty early in the season to start throwing around the superlatives.

Are they pretty good? Of course. Really good? Maybe. Great? Let's ask!

"I think we've worked really hard this season," sophomore Frances Comey said. "Everyone's been working and practicing so much, and we really stepped up our performance against Brown and Cornell. Vassar and F&M aren't quite on that level, but, you know, a win's a win."

"In my heart of hearts I know we're up there," senior co-captain Helen Smith said. "But the hardest part of the season is yet to come. The wins we've had so far have been quality, but we honestly haven't been really tested yet. Harvard and Yale are both really good, and Trinity is probably going to wreck us a little."

But despite the thunderclouds looming on the horizon, there is little despair in the Tiger camp. All of the players are, if not completely optimistic about their chances of winning this weekend, at least confident in their ability as players.

And who knows, perhaps, like the underdog UConn Huskies playing a much more talented Duke team (featuring five first round draft picks) in the 1999 NCAA championship, Princeton will rise to the occasion and play the spoiler.