NORTHAMPTON, Mass. -- The Wellesley College squash team dropped two matches to finish in fourth place at the 2011 Seven Sisters Championships. The Blue lost an 8-1 match to Vassar in the first round and then fell 6-3 to Smith in the third place match.
Against Vassar, Rosemary O'Connor continued her hot streak in the number one position, picking up Wellesley's lone victory. The first-year was an 11-7, 11-3, 11-9 winner over Vassar's Elisabeth Pei to set the final to 8-1.
Also against Vassar, the Blue's Jennifer Hsu had a solid match in the sixth spot. After dropping the first game, she rallied for two straight victories to take a 2-1 lead. Hsu, however, could not hold on, dropping the final two games of the match to take the loss.
In the third place match against Smith, O'Connor was winner at one, while Emma Haley picked up an 11-4, 11-7, 11-6 victory in the second flight. Wellesley's other point came at eight, where Haley Vasquez (pictured) was an 11-6, 11-2, 11-7 winner.
For their fantastic play during the tournament, both O'Connor and Haley were named to the 2011 Seven Sisters All-Tournament team.
The Blue return home on Friday, February 11th taking on Boston College at Dana Hall at 7:00pm.
2011 Seven Sisters All-Tournament Selections
From the Assistant Coach, Dave Renninger:
Match v Vassar
After an exciting and much-needed win over Northeastern, the Blue faltered in their annual Seven Sisters tournament, also attended by Mount Holyoke, Vassar, and Smith, who hosted the event. Wellesley has seen success in this tournament in the past, and looked to build on their big win over the Huskies, which had vaulted their ranking over Smith up to #27.
Higher-ranked Vassar was the Blue's first match, and Wellesley was clearly overmatched, managing a lone win at the #1 spot.
Rosemary O'Connor outpaced Vassar's Elisabeth Pei to win convincingly in three games, despite a very close score in the third. Kristine Bell outlasted Wellesley's
Emma Haley at #2, managing 11-8 wins in the first and second games before pulling away in the third, 11-3.
Dorothy Vickery had some opportunities, but spent the majority of her match on the defensive, retrieving Meg Taylor's deep shots with boasts that Taylor was able to easily turn into points.
Co-captain Margo Sulmont struggled to find her rhythm at the #4 spot, and lost quickly to Vassar's Willow Thompson. Thompson kept Sulmont off balance throughout the match, and took advantage of her inexperience playing that high on Wellesley's ladder. Co-captain
Emaline Surgenor put her considerable improvement this season on display against Nina Punukollu at #5. Surgenor played intelligent shots and used consistent volleys to put pressure on Punukollu. Unfortunately, her opponent was up to the challenge, and won a more closely matched contest than the 3-0 game score showed. Jen Hsu played #6 for Wellesley, the highest position of her young collegiate career thus far. Aside from the #1 spot, Hsu was the only Blue player to take a game from Vassar, and she very nearly took that match against Lisa Evans. After coming up short in the first, Hsu used a combination of boasts – defensive and attacking – and long cross-courts to win games two and three 11-8 and 11-9, but was unable to keep up her pace, and lost the next two games 11-4. 11-4.
Cara Kaufman played consistent length and power, especially down the backhand wall, against Avery Siciliano. The Vassar player, however, used her speed to retrieve a lot of quality shots, and played good, low kills to keep the ball just out of Kaufman's reach. At #8,
Haley Vasquez played one of the closest matches of the day against Vassar's Jill Levine. Levine, a lefty, played with very good pace though, and while Vasquez was able to keep all three games close in the beginning, Levine pulled away late in all three, winning 11-7, 11-6, 11-7.
Charlene Lee played one of her hardest-hitting opponents to date in Liz Anderson. Lee had difficulty returning serves that took very sharp angles off the side walls, and Anderson's strength was enough for a swift three-game win. Playing #10,
Stephanie Lee – like much of the Wellesley team in this match – played a significantly more experienced opponent in Kate Cornish. After putting up a good fight in the first game to lose by only three points, Lee couldn't keep up with Cornish's pace in the next two, losing 11-4, 11-4.
Match v Smith
In the wake of their 8-1 loss to Vassar and with only half an hour to recover, the Blue had to quickly regroup and prepare for a critical match against Smith. With a 5-4 win and a 4-5 loss to the Pioneers this season, Wellesley needed a tiebreaking win to maintain their 27th place ranking – one above Smith.
At the top of the order, Rosemary O'Connor faced Meg Oliverio for the third time this season. O'Connor was eager to prove that the last match between these two – when Oliverio had come back from down two games to none and pushed game five to 9-9 before O'Connor eked out the 11-9 win – had been a fluke. This time around, it only took three games for the Blue's standout #1 to close out the match. Wellesley #2 Emma Haley had a similar task in front of her, playing Smith's Jasmine Wallas for the second time. In their last match, Wallas refused to let Haley maintain a comfortable lead in their four-game match. This time Haley put her improved back court drives and increased pace on display in her quick three-game win. Dorothy Vickery, playing #3, was trying to rebound from an extremely close three-game loss to Smith's Helen Queenan. In their last match, the first and third games had gone to tiebreaks. This time, Vickery couldn't match Queenan's intensity, and saw too many of her loose cross-courts get volleyed to the front court in her 3-0 loss.
Co-captain Margo Sulmont played a closely contested match against Eunice Zhao, but despite a close 13-15 loss in her second game, she was unable to attack enough midcourt shots to gain an advantage, and Zhao won in three games. Co-captain Emaline Surgenor faced Jennifer Krain at #6, and while she tried hard to pressure her opponent, Krain was able to control the tempo of the match and keep Surgenor in the back of the court. Krain's aggressive volley drops proved the difference in the 3-0 Smith win. In the #6 spot, Jen Hsu used a hard, effective serve, improved volleys, and an overall more aggressive style of play than usual to keep her first two games against Liz Guyman close, even winning the first game 11-9. After that her pace faltered, however, and Guyman was able to pull away with 12-10, 11-3, and 11-2 wins to close out the match.
Smith's Catie Blunt faced Cara Kaufman at #7, and while Kaufman's serves and drives were effective, Blunt's variety of shots and her quick front court game were enough to win her the match. Haley Vasquez, facing Smith's Elena Plesco for the second time, improved on her prior win with an impressive three-game victory; the variety of Vasquez's shots and her willingness to step up and play aggressively in order to move her opponent around the court were the differences, especially in a dominant 11-2 win in their second game. Charlene Lee filled out the Blue's ladder with a close match, but while she chased down most of Julie Wang's shots, she was unable to recover after losing 10-12 in a back and forth first game. Lee mounted a comeback in the third, reeling off six straight points after being down 2-8 and eventually winning the game 12-10, but the game took too much out of her, and a 3-8 game four deficit was too much to overcome.
Stephanie Lee, playing at #10, faced Szilvia Kiss, a smaller but faster opponent. Kiss' high lob serves and deceptive speed gave her the edge in a five-game thriller in which Lee won the second and third games in tiebreaks. Lee's 3-2 loss was her longest match of the season.
The Blue will need to recover both their bodies and their minds before their final match of the regular season on Friday.
Playing against Boston College, who Wellesley defeated soundly in their first weekend of the season, will be a good chance to build momentum and confidence going into the Howe Cup tournament the following weekend. Wellesley's young but determined team has a steep hill to climb in order to win their division this year after such a tough loss to close rival Smith. They continue to work hard, though, and each one hopes to see Smith again this year – with a much different result.
GO BLUE!
