Facing Brown in round one last Friday, which must seem an eternity ago to these players, the No. 2-seeded Tigers swept the Bears 9-0. Giving up only 31 points as a team, no Tiger went beyond the minimum three games. This translates into an average of little more than one point per game for the Bears. Sophomore Amanda Siebert, playing in the No. 1 position on the ladder the entire tournament, swatted two shutout games, tying the team high for shutouts in a single match.
As the Tigers picked up steam, the crowds around each court kept building. Even with the match’s outcome already decided, it was standing room only on the second court. With onlookers peering over the sides of the walls, a tense match for the Tigers ensued against Yale, who had given Princeton an excellent 6-3 match three weeks ago. In Miranda Ranieri, the Bulldogs have the No. 1-ranked player in the country, and the bottom of Yale’s ladder hoped to follow its strong leader’s example. To help fire each other up and intimidate the Tigers, the Bulldogs had “Yale” inscribed on their backs.
Princeton’s depth proved too much for Yale. Though the Bulldogs won the top two matches on the ladder, the Tigers won matches three through nine. Freshman No. 3 Jackie Moss had the most grueling afternoon, as she won in five tough games. Down two games to one, Moss roared back in the fourth game, winning 9-1, and then went into extra points to take the game ball, winning 10-8. All three captains won, including No. 9 Kent, who won her match in three quick games, 9-0, 9-3, 9-2.
Princeton only had one loss this season, and it was to Penn. The Tigers were ready for a rematch, which the Tigers won 6-3, reversing January’s 5-4 regular-season loss.
“I think that the previous loss to Penn actually made us stronger going into the finals yesterday. We wanted it more, and we had learned from our mistakes and were determined to get revenge,” sophomore No. 4 Emery Maine said.
Strong words for a strong opponent. With “revenge” in mind, it was ironic that Maine, the draftee from the women’s lacrosse team, closed the match out against Penn’s Tara Chawla. Having lost to Chawla in five tough games in January, Maine roared back to win in four, 9-5, 5-9, 9-1, 9-0. With the rout in the final game, Maine exhibited the focus and execution that gave her the court vision to adapt and win.
“We had great leadership, and we all wanted to win for each other, which is something that I think makes our team really special,” Maine said. “We truly were a team in everything that we did — win together, lose together — so to be able to share this great accomplishment with each other and to come out on top is really special.”
There is no doubt that this team wanted to win for each other. Riley and sophomore Neha Kumar came back from injury to capture crucial games in the final. Riley, who has had numerous unfortunate injuries while at Princeton, swept all three of her matches this past weekend, winning her final match 9-1, 9-3, 9-4. It was Kumar, playing the No. 2 spot, who earned redemption after her January loss, winning 9-7, 9-6, 10-8. “UPenn has a strong team, so going into this match I knew I had to play well, fight hard and win. So when I stepped on court, that’s what I did,” Kumar said.
She did not just win her match, but she won over herself.
“Mentally, my strategy was to block out the pain I was feeling and to make my body think that it was 100 percent and could do whatever my mind wanted it to do,” Kumar said. “I also focused on taking one point at a time and thinking of the strengths of my game and avoided thinking about what I was missing or could not do because of my injury.”
Sophomore No. 6 Kaitlin Sennatt, No. 7 Grabowski and junior No. 8 Maggie O’Toole also contributed victories.
When Grabowski was asked how to explain the significance of this win to the non-squash fan, it was easy for her.
“I mean, it’s a national championship,” Grabowski said. “We will get some bling also.”
Ladies do like their rings, especially national championship rings.
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