A Full Weekend to Close the Semester

The Vassar women’s squash team went into this very full weekend feeling anxious and excited. We were still on a high after winning our second straight Liberty League title, but knew that Amherst would be one of our closest and most intense matches of the season. Their 8-1 win over us last year left most of us feeling as though we had something to prove on Saturday at our home courts.

While we ended up falling just short with a 5-4 loss, one that we may want to try to blame on sickness and stress of exams, we still fought hard. Every person on the team battled for every point with fire and heart, determined to not let Amherst get away with nearly as many games or matches this year. It was a truly inspiring day of squash, as fans were packed in on the bleachers cheering for Vassar.

Even more inspiring was the way in which the team supported one another, coaching and strategizing in between games, consoling after defeat, and celebrating victories. I know that we will all use this loss as motivation to push ourselves to work harder and be ready to pick up Amherst's drop shots if we see them again at nationals.

On Sunday, the squash teams woke up before sunrise and went to the new Street Squash facility in Harlem, NY. Street Squash is an afterschool squash, tutoring, and mentoring program for Harlem youth. The teams there this weekend were Columbia, Bates, Vanderbilt, and Vassar. We played a very strong, number 12 ranked Bates team and a newly forming Vanderbilt club team. We struggled against Bates’ depth and experience, but came out with a few games won and some very close matches as well. Although freshman Alexa Lichtenstein lost 3-2, she proved that she could push Bates and keep up with their pace, despite their higher team ranking.

The women easily swept the new Vanderbilt team and we enjoyed playing a different team of players who then had to fly all the way back to Tennessee. We left Harlem exhausted after our demanding weekend and headed back to Poughkeepsie. Our 2009 portion of the season has come to a close with an impressive 4-2 record that we are eager to improve on in January 2010 when we open up the semester at Amherst on January 23, playing Colby College and Tufts University.