Frosh Kumar only Tiger to climb past first round at WISA tourney

Princeton squash already had one national champion. Could the women's team make it two? Freshman Ruchika Kumar qualified for the quarterfinals, but could not beat Yale's top player. With the loss, the women's squash team fell out of contention for a national individual championship.

Four of Princeton's finest traveled to Trinity last weekend to compete in the Women's Intercollegiate Squash Association's Individual Championship. All entered into the Main Draw of the Ramsay Cup Division with high hopes, but none of them, with the exception of Kumar, were able to make it past the first round.

In fact, the tournament lacked an upset, as every player ended up leaving the tournament at the same ranking as they entered into it. The top eight all made it to the quarterfinals, the top four made it to the semifinals, and the top two played one another in the finals. The tournament's No. 1 player, Trinity's junior Amina Helal, emerged as the national champion at the end of four games.

Kumar, along with sophomores Annie Warner, Franny McKay and Francie Comey, were the four women sent to represent Princeton.

Kumar did well the first day as she beat Williams' Clare Whipple, 3-0, in the first round and Trinity's Isabel Restrepo, 3-1, in the second round.

But in the quarterfinals, Kumar faced Yale's Michelle Quibell, ranked just above her at No. 4. Kumar had played her three times already this year and lost in all previous encounters. She did manage to stretch two of their previous matches to five games though, which gave Kumar a glimpse of hope going into the quarterfinal match. But once again, Quibell was too much for her, as the top Yale player handed Kumar another defeat, beating her, 3-0.

"She came out firing — anything I hit she had an answer for," Kumar said. "[Quibell] didn't let me play the game I wanted. There's a reason she's ranked four."

Warner, who usually plays at the No. 4 spot for the Tigers, had a tough weekend as she faced up against Quibell in the first round of the Main Draw and Bowdoin's top player, Niki Clement, in the Consolation Draw. Against these two opponents, the greater experience and strength won out as Warner lost both matches, 3-0.

"[Warner] played very tough, very well overall, but she didn't have enough experience," head coach Gail Ramsay said. "It wasn't her day."

Comey was another one who had a rough weekend, losing 3-0 in the first round of the Main Draw to Penn's Runa Reta, who later went on to the final round. She also lost to Trinity's Rhea Bhandare in the Consolation Draw.

Last but not least in the quartet, McKay lost in the first round of the Main Draw to Harvard's Lindsey Wilkins, 3-0, but defeated the Crimson's Laura Delano in the first round of the Consolation Draw, 3-1, in a spectacular showing that coach Ramsay described as, "one of the best performances this year."

After that win, however, she faced up against Trinity's Restrepo, and lost, 3-0.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

It was an expectedly anti-climatic ending for the Tigers with only one player making it to the quarterfinals and the other three not able to make it past the first round. But the team consoles itself with the theory that Kumar is still a freshman and McKay, Warner and Comey still have two years left as well. Even with a relatively uninspiring finish, the Tigers have obtained some valuable experience and a very strong freshman recruiting class.