In the victory, senior co-captains Ashley Harmeling and Ali Gibbs, along with Caroline Shannon '07, Libby Martin '08, Emily Zandy '07 and Lauren Coape-Arnold '06 won their individual matches. Additionally, first-year Di Kirkwood and senior Erin Murphy were credited with wins by default due to injuries plaguing multiple Jumbos.
Harmeling highlighted the season opener with three 9-0 victories as she won her match against Tuft's Rebecca Rice. Martin began her collegiate career with a convincing 3-0 (9-0, 9-1, 9-0) routing of the Jumbos' Eliza Drachman-Jones.
The Lord Jeffs returned from their abridged winter break on Jan. 4 to continue training for the remainder of their season. They traveled to the University Club of New York to participate in the highly competitive 2005 Women's Squash Cummings Cup, which took place from Jan. 7-9.
In the first round of the tournament, Gibbs defeated Harvard University's Lindsey Wilkins and Emily O'Brien upset Harvard's Kyla Grigg, who was seeded third. Head Coach Jackie Bagwell also competed in the tournament, defeating Princeton University's Marilla Hiltz. "We used the tournament in New York as preparation for the Amherst Invitational, in which we played Hamilton and Middlebury Colleges," said Kirkwood.
The Lord Jeffs played well in the Amherst Invitational on Jan. 15, defeating both Hamilton and Middlebury Colleges. Amherst dominated the Continentals, winning 9-0. In the impressive shut-out, Harmeling, Shannon, O'Brien, Gibbs, Martin, Zandy, Sarah Harper '07 and Kirkwood all won their matches 3-0. Martin was flawless as she blanked Casey Cook of Hamilton (9-0, 9-0, 9-0). At the end of the match, the formidable Jeffs had lost only one game.
Later that day, Amherst defeated 16th-ranked Middlebury 8-1, improving their record to 3-0 on the season. Harmeling, O'Brien, Gibbs, Martin and Zandy all mirrored Amherst's perfect record by winning their individual matches, 3-0.
In its first three victories, the team outplayed its opponents by an impressive score of 25-2.
Then, on Jan. 19, the women struggled against the Bears of Brown University. They suffered their first loss by a score of 9-0. Brown, ranked seventh in the nation, swept all 27 games in the match against the 10th-ranked Jeffs. It was the Bears first win of the season as they improved to 1-3.
The closest individual match of the day was at the top of the ladder between Amherst's Harmeling and Brown's Lillian Rosenthal. Rosenthal defeated Harmeling 3-0 (10-8, 9-6, 9-4) in a hard-fought match.
Just a day after their lopsided loss to Brown, the Lord Jeffs traveled to Hanover, N.H. to face sixth-ranked Dartmouth University. The Jeffs, playing without guidance from head coach Bagwell, suffered another staggering loss. The Big Green women blanked Amherst, sweeping each of the nine matches. Harmeling again lost the closest bout, falling to Julia Drury, 3-0 (9-4, 9-7, 9-2).
With Coach Bagwell absent again, the captains held a team meeting before their next match to discuss strategies and techniques with their teammates. The 3-2 Amherst squad was determined to end their two-match losing skid. On Jan. 21, the Jeffs faced 11th-ranked Cornell University. Last year, Amherst ended the Big Red's season by eliminating them at Nationals. Inspired by last season's hearbreak, Cornell narrowly defeated Amherst, 5-4.
In the loss, Harmeling, Gibbs, Martin and Mantica won their individual matches. "The loss to Cornell was tough," said Kirkwood. "But we still have a lot of matches left to improve."
The Lord Jeffs, now 3-3 on the year, are not yet halfway through the season. They have three more matches scheduled this week after easily winning yesterday's match 9-0 over local rival Smith College. A long road series follows, with matches at Wellesley, Smith, Williams, Trinity and Mt. Holyoke Colleges before returning to Davenport Courts to host the Little Three Championships.