This past weekend at the Howe Cup tournament held in New Haven, Conn. on the campus of Yale University, the Amherst women's squash team silenced the critics and non-believers with a pair of strong wins and a third place finish in the "B" division. Their performance was also good enough for a respectable 11th place overall finish.

The first of the two victories for Amherst came on Feb. 17 against Bates College by a score of 8-1. The entire team came out strong, with six of the eight wins coming in three games.

Amherst number one K.C. Giese '01 was off her game and lost a tough match against the Bates' number one; however, the rest of the squad covered her back, taking each of their opponents en route to the dominating win.

Winning in three games for Amherst were Roopali Agarwal '03, Vanessa Champion '01, Susanna Burke '03, Katie Alburger '03, Emily Stark '04 and Mary Frances Ford '02.

Hoping to capitalize on their momentum from the day before, the Jeffs went into Saturday's match against NESCAC archrival Williams College unencumbered by their late season 9-0 loss to the Ephs. Unfortunately, the Ephs were just too strong across the board and Amherst again fell 9-0. But the women's spirits were not completely crushed, and they looked forward to Sunday's match against Colby College.

Going into the meet the team knew that they might have to fight the White Mules of Colby for a third place finish, and they were ready for it.

In the previous two meetings this season, Colby cruised to decisive wins, a 2-7 loss at Colby on Jan. 13 and a 3-6 loss at home on the 23rd, but this time the Jeffs were confident that their game had improved enough to seize victory from their NESCAC rivals.

"Everyone needs to be healthy and really work hard. We are so close to beating Colby," said number-one player Giese of the keys to victory. Giese went on to incorrectly predict a 5-4 win over the Mules, but fortunately she erred on the side of Amherst, who rose to the occasion and beat Colby 6-3.

Number one and two players Giese and Agarwal cruised to easy victories over their Colby opponents taking each match in three games. Number four Burke would also quickly dispatch her competition in three.

Tara Kenney '04 and Stark needed an extra game and two tie-breakers to finish Colby, but in the end they also emerged from the court victorious. Alburger, playing in the six spot, drew a tough opponent but pulled it out, winning three of five games.