The team kicked off Interterm by traveling to Williams College for the annual Williams Invitational, held Jan. 12-13. The team started strong, posting decisive victories over Bowdoin College (8-1) and Middlebury College (7-2).
The Polar Bears fell easily and were only able to take four games against the Jeffs. The Panthers proved to be a slightly bigger challenge with Alexandra Gibbs '05, Elizabeth Martin '04 and Emily Stark '04 battling their opponents to the full five games before winning their matches. The Jeffs performed impressively against the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) as well, pulling out a narrow 5-4 victory. The lower ladder proved crucial in the victory as Stark, Lindsey Snyder '02,and Cara Coscarelli '02 all posted solid wins. The team finished the invitational with a tough meeting against Bates College and eventually fell 4-5.
On the 16th, the team fell to eighth ranked Dartmouth 8-1 in a tough loss.
Next, the team entered an intense week, playing seven matches in six days.
The team began with a strong showing at home on the Davenport Courts in the yearly Amherst Invitational. Things looked rough early on for the Jeffs when their top seed, Susanna Burke '03, was forced to sit out against Middlebury due to illness. The rest of the ladder moved up and Mary Alcaly '05 stepped in to guide the Jeffs to a convincing 7-2 victory. Roopali Agarwal '03, Martin, Tara Kenney '04, Ford, Coscarelli and Alcaly all posted solid victories. Stark also contributed a hard fought win that extended to five games. The team then went on to close out the day by toppling St. Lawrence University 6-3.
The team kicked off the second day of the Invitational by routing Wesleyan University 9-0. Only a few hours after trouncing Wesleyan, the team fell to UPenn in a match much closer than the 7-2 score implies. Although only Martin and Stark contributed wins, Snyder and Kenney both fought hard in close games. The team finished out the tournament with a convincing 8-1 defeat of Colby College.
Two days later, the team traveled to Providence to take on sixth ranked Brown University. The Jeffs fought hard before falling 0-9.
The next day, the team met second ranked Trinity College at home in another difficult match. The team fell 9-0 in a rough loss to a strong Bantam team. Despite losing, Burke played well against fifth-ranked Lynn Leong.
The team has come a long way since the beginning of Interterm. "We've really bonded as a team," said Burke. "Everyone has improved a lot since the beginning of the season."
After a tough week of team competition, many team members individually entered Princeton's Betty Constable Tournament over the weekend of Jan. 25th. The tournament showcases the top individual players in squash. Players enter at a level from 1.0 to 5.0 with 5.0 being the most skilled.
Burke finished a very impressive third place overall in the 4.0 division.
Last the night the team beat Smith College 9-0.