W. squash wins two, loses to Trinity

Women's squash was not left out of the Valentine's Day festivities in its travels to Trinity in Hartford, Conn., this weekend. During their pre-match meeting, Princeton's men's team presented each women's player with a red carnation.

Love was not the only thing in the air as the women emerged with two wins and one loss in their last weekend of regular-season play. After a loss Saturday, Princeton (8-3 overall, 4-2 Ivy League) came out on top against Amherst (15-8) and Williams (14-7) on Sunday.

The Tigers lost, 7-2, Saturday to Trinity (7-1), the defending national champions. There were still a few highlights in individual play, however.

Freshman Anina Nolan and junior Franny McKay both won against all three schools. Against the Bantams, Nolan played five games at No. 7 to beat Trinity's Fernanda Rocha, 9-5, 8-10, 9-3, 3-9, 7-9. McKay had a decisive win in three games at No. 8 against Trinity's Margot Kearney. But wins at Nos. 7 and 8 alone are usually not a harbinger of good things to come in the postseason.

Freshman Marilla Hiltz — the SAC's Athlete of the Week last week — forced Trinity's Maria Restrepo to five games at No. 5. Although she did not pull through with a win, her performance "really got [Trinity's] coach riled up," freshman Alex Day said.

Seniors Caroline Yao and Liz Johnson both played their last intercollegiate squash matches of their careers this weekend. "The whole team was so excited for Caroline and Liz, who both won in hard-fought five game matches," junior co-captain Tricia Gadsden said.

The rest of the weekend proved to be easier for the Tigers as they took down Williams, 8-1, and Amherst, 9-0, on Sunday.

In a strange lineup coincidence, Princeton sisters freshman Claire and senior Annie Rein-Weston were matched up against Williams sisters Clare and Kate Whipple at No. 1 and 3, respectively.

The Tigers' Claire Rein-Weston won in three straight sets. Her sister Annie fell to the Ephs' Kate, but she did not go down without a fight. She bounced back from losing the first two games to win the third and fourth, only to lose in the fifth, 9-6.

With its overall team win, Princeton exacted revenge upon Williams for last year's nail-biting 5-4 victory — the first time Williams had ever defeated the Tigers.

The following day, both Rein-Weston sisters, this time occupying the top two spots, were successful against their Amherst opponents, as were the rest of their teammates. Each Princeton player was able to win her match easily, 3-0, to contribute to the team's sweep of the Jeffs.

With the regular season over, the Tigers have some of their most important competition still to come.

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This coming weekend they head to Yale for the Howe Cup, which determines the national title in women's squash.

"We should have some tough matches that will hopefully determine our spot in the top three teams in the nation," freshman Martha Kelley said.

Princeton enters the tournament seeded No. 3 behind No. 1 Yale and No. 2 Trinity. The team lost to Yale, 8-1, earlier in the season and to Trinity, 7-2, on Saturday.

"I'm confident that we have a good chance of beating Trinity this coming weekend when we hopefully play them at the Howe Cup," Gadsden said.

Traditionally, only the top 10 members of the team travel and only the top nine play, but this year the rest of the team is gearing up to go to Yale as well to cheer for their teammates in the bid for a national title.

The Tigers' top nine believe they will be able to give their teammates something to cheer about.