Despite a promising start to the Mid-Atlantic Conference Championships, the Georgetown University women’s squash team’s weekend in Philadelphia ended in disappointment. After a convincing victory over No. 22 Franklin & Marshall College (6-14), No. 15 Georgetown (11-8) suffered 2 crucial losses to No. 7 Virginia (11-3) and No. 10 Drexel (6-6).
The Hoyas entered the tournament with a 10-6 record hoping to build on their successful regular season with victories in tournament play.
The weekend prior to the championships, Georgetown swept both No. 23 Chatham (3-7) and No. 24 Colby (4-9). These decisive victories gave the team hope as they looked ahead toward a weekend full of competitive matches.
In last weekend’s tournament, Georgetown first faced No. 22 Franklin & Marshall — and the Hoyas dominated, sweeping the Diplomats 9-0. Impressively, in 7 of the 9 matches, Georgetown players swept their opponents, winning all 3 games in each match.
Senior Caroline Wilcox had an especially impressive showing, holding each of her opponents to 1 point in her 3 games. Despite losing the first game, graduate student Jesse Brownwell came back, winning her next 3 to ensure a Hoya sweep of the Diplomats.
The conclusive victory by each Georgetown athlete was a big improvement from the 2 teams’ early-season matchup on Jan. 21, when the Hoyas only won 7-2. First-years Aaru Kuthari and Ella Schoonmaker made the difference, bouncing back from their prior losses to each convincingly win 3-0.
This promising result propelled Georgetown into their next match.
Unfortunately, the weekend took a sour turn there, as the Hoyas faced stiff competition from the Cavaliers, ranked No. 7. Virginia entered the match with a record of 9-2, having only lost to No. 4 Penn (10-4) and No. 2 Harvard (9-1). Despite valiant efforts up and down the lineup, the Cavaliers dominated the Hoyas 9-0.
Nonetheless, Georgetown’s 9 athletes put up a strong fight. Sophomores Sydney Bramen and Katie Hennessy fought particularly hard, each losing their second game by the narrow score of 13-11.
The defeat was a replica of the teams’ prior matchup — which resulted in another brutal 9-0 loss for the Hoyas on Nov. 4.
Despite the impressive showing against Georgetown, Virginia ultimately lost 7-2 in the championship to No. 6 Stanford (6-4).
The following day, Georgetown faced Drexel for the teams’ second meeting this season after a 9-0 Hoya loss on Jan. 28. The Dragons entered the match with a 6-5 record, looking to make a statement after their narrow loss to Stanford the prior day. Drexel did just that, sweeping the Hoyas 9-0 once again.
Bramen was the only Hoya who managed to win a game, as she took the third game against Drexel’s Claudia Adam 11-8.
One promising takeaway from the weekend was sophomore Eena Yu’s elite performance. In an exhibition match against Franklin & Marshall, Yu scored a huge victory over her opponent Kylie Loughney, winning 11-2, 11-0 and 11-1 in her 3 games. And in the exhibition match against Virginia, Yu took the Cavaliers’ Erin O’Connor to 5 games, more than any other Georgetown player accomplished.
The Hoyas will look to bounce back quickly as they are set to compete in the National College Squash Association Championships in Philadelphia from Feb. 15-18.
