"We had some players that went really far into the competition," said Emily Stark '04. The Jeffs defeated Bates College, Vassar College, St. Lawrence University, Middlebury College and Mount Holyoke College. They suffered disappointing losses to Dartmouth College, Brown University, Yale University, Colby College and Bowdoin College.
After hard practice throughout Interterm and a training trip to Boca Raton, Fla., the women's efforts paid off as they dominated William Smith College, Bates and Vassar in a tournament at Williams College. Unfortunately, their efforts ultimately fell short against Bowdoin (0-9) and Colby (2-7).
The team stomped Vassar with a perfect 9-0 sweep that featured strong play from the entire line-up. No player lost even one game in a match. The Jeffs also soundly beat Bates 6-3, with strong play from Cara Coscarelli '02 and Mary Frances Ford '02, who pulled out five game victories.
Although the Jeffs fell to the White Mules 6-3, both captain K.C. Giese '01 and Susanna Burke '03 defeated their Colby opponents. "I thought our performance was great," said Ford. "We worked really hard in Florida and it showed."
Following their solid performance in the Williams Invitational, the women's team traveled to New Hampshire to meet Dartmouth. The Lady Jeffs hoped to improve their standings by tackling the seventh ranked Big Green, but struggled early in the bracket. Eighth- and ninth- seeded players Stark and Ford pulled out convincing victories over their Dartmouth opponents.
The Jeffs more than compensated for their struggles with the Big Green in their own Amherst Invitational. They pulled out a win against St. Lawrence University, 5-4, and went on to rout Middlebury and Mount Holyoke in 9-0 sweeps.
The Saints' upper bracket defeated the top four Amherst players, but the next five Jeffs turned the match around. Katie Alburger '03, Tara Kenney '04, Lindsey Snyder '02, Stark and Ford were all victorious. There were no losses against eleventh- ranked Middlebury or Mount Holyoke as every player won.
Buoyed by their strong performance in the Amherst Invitational, the Jeffs improved their play against Colby, although they fell to the White Mules, the third ranked Bears and the seventh ranked Bulldogs. Giese, Roopali Agarwal '03 and Burke all defeated their Colby opponents on Jan. 3 although the team lost, 6-3.
The Jeffs were unable to carry any matches against Brown or Yale, but did extend several opponents to four games. The team looks strong and should defeat their competition in this week's matches. Smith College has struggled through the season so the Jeffs should prevail on Tuesday.
"We're confident about Smith and Wellesley," said Stark. "We should be able to win." Wellesley boasts a record of 7-3 but have not faced the Ivy League competition that the Jeffs have. This season, they have lost twice to Tufts, a school that the Jeffs soundly defeated.