The women’s squash team closed out its season this Sunday with an 8-1 loss to Middlebury in the consolation finals of the Women’s National Championship Tournament at Princeton University. The Jeffs had one win and two losses at the eight-team tournament, which included schools ranked Nos. 9-16 in the nation. The Jeffs concluded their season with a 16-8 record and are likely to finish at No. 14 in the Dunlop Women’s College Squash Team Rankings.

The No. 13 ranked Jeffs opened the weekend against No. 12 Bates on Friday. The teams went into the match having split their first two meetings. The Jeffs earned a 6-3 victory in mid-January, but the Bobcats beat Amherst in the first round of the NESCAC tournament two weeks ago. In the rubber match this weekend, one of the Jeffs’ top players was out due to illness, and Bates took the contest 8-1. Junior Kate Savage was the only Jeff to win her match, beating Bates’ No. 4 player in four frames (11-8, 11-6, 12-14, 11-5).

The next day, the Jeffs beat No. 16 George Washington University 7-2 in a consolation match. Anne Piper ’13, Savage, and Rice won their matches 3-0 in the three, four, and eight spots, respectively. Seniors Mimi Bell and Caitlin Demkin won their matches 3-1 at the No. 7 and No. 9 spots. Chandler Lusardi ’13 and Anna Schiedt ’12 both won their matches from behind. Lusardi, playing at the No. 2 spot, overcame two one-set deficits to emerge with the victory, taking the second, fourth and fifth games 11-6, 11-7 and 11-6. After losing the first frame 11-5, No. 5 player Schiedt eked out a 13-11 win in the second frame before solidly winning the next two frames 11-4 and 11-5.

The Jeffs’ final match marked the second time this season the Jeffs lost to No. 10 Middlebury. Savage, once again, was the only Jeff to win her match. She easily took out the Panthers’ No. 5 player 11-4, 11-5, 11-4. No. 1 player Hayley Milbourn ’11 and No. 4 Piper extended their matches to five frames, but both came out on the losing end.

Sunday’s competition marked the final team match for seniors Milbourn, Mimi Bell, Allie Dalglish, Caitlyn Demkin and Veronica Roca. They posted a 57-40 record over the course of their four years here and improved their record each season. The Class of 2011 was 12-14 in 2008, 16-10 in 2009 and 13-8 in 2010, before finishing 16-8 this season. Their performance and dedication have steadily moved the Jeffs up in the rankings, even pushing them up from the C Division Walker Cup (teams ranked 17-24) to the B Division Kurtz Cup (9-16).