Though their fifth-place finish at the Howe Cup was a disappointment, the Tigers come into the 2010-11 season with a new outlook and an optimism that was missing in much of last season. Senior co-captains Jackie Moss and Nikki Sequeira will lead the team this season in a quest to bring the Howe Cup back to Princeton for the fourth time in the last five years.
“We’re coming in as underdogs more so than we have in the past,” Sequeira said.
The Tigers enter the season ranked No. 4 in the country. Harvard, the defending national champion, retained its top ranking from last season. Yale follows at No. 2, and Trinity College is ranked No. 3. The competition at the top of the rankings should be fierce.
“There’s no weak link. Harvard, Yale, Trinity, Princeton — we’re all neck and neck.” Moss said. “It’s going to come down to who wants it more.”
The women open their season at home Friday against Ivy League lightweight Columbia. The Tigers also take on Franklin & Marshall on Saturday in another match that they should win without a breaking a sweat. On Sunday, Cornell travels to Princeton in what will be a good early test for Princeton. Although Cornell starts the season ranked No. 7, Princeton won’t be taking anything for granted.
“Every match is important,” Sequeira said.
The Tigers will be focused on their matches against the top three ranked schools — Harvard, Yale and Trinity — but will also face tough league competition from No. 5 Penn, which was the national championship runner-up last year.
Princeton squash fans will have the opportunity to see both the Penn and Harvard matches at Jadwin Gymnasium this year, as well as the national championship.
Moss emphasized the importance of having a strong home crowd at those matches. “We’re at home [for the championships] finally,” she said. “It’s going to be awesome.”
The fans that make it out will see plenty of new faces in the lineup. Five seniors graduated last year, including second-team All-American Neha Kumar, Amanda Siebert, Kaitlin Sennatt and Emery Maine, all of whom competed in the top portion of the ladder.
“It’s a big turnover, but there are some strong freshmen,” Sequeira said.
The team adds four freshmen this season, including the top two American recruits of the Class of 2014, Libby Eyre and Alex Sawin. The captains hope to see an immediate contribution from the freshmen in the top nine.
“I think they’ll have to grow into it a little bit,” Moss said. “It’s hard to replace the seniors that graduated.”
All four freshmen should have an opportunity to make their mark this year, and the team will need them to do so.
“They’re all really solidly in the middle of the lineup,” Moss said. “We need them to win matches.”
Sophomore Julie Cerullo is the team’s top returning player. Named first-team All-America last season, she played No. 1 for much of the year while Siebert recovered from injuries.
“[Cerullo] had a really good tournament up at Ivy scrimmages,” Sequeira said. “She’s really stepped up.”
Moss will also be a force at the top of the lineup. She was named second-team All-America after winning 10 of 13 matches last year.
The Tigers are looking toward the future, and the team spent the summer training to get ready for the season.
“Everyone took this summer and really trained hard,” Moss said. “A lot of us met up and played.”
The team focused on establishing a solid fitness base so that it is ready to compete once the season fully starts.
“We’ve done a lot more than we have in the past,” Moss said. “We’ve really stepped it up.”
Both captains emphasized the importance of avoiding injuries as critical to their success this year.
“We need everyone to be focused and stay healthy,” Moss said. “We don’t have that many players that we can afford to have people dropping out due to injuries.”
“We all have the same goal in mind, and I think reaching it is going to mean holding each other accountable to stay healthy,” Sequeira said. “It’s not about individuals. It’s about everyone on the team. It takes five to win a match.”
The team has trained hard and is focused on its goals of winning the Ivy League and the national championship.
But more importantly, the Tigers are enjoying themselves on court.
“I think the team dynamic has been really positive this year,” Sequeira said. “It’s a fresh-feeling team. It’s been really fun.”
If their excitement about the upcoming season is any indication of how they will perform, the Tigers should be poised to take back the title from Harvard.
“I think we have what it takes to come out on top,” Sequeira said.
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