The Bowdoin Orient

March 2, 2001
Volume CXXXII, Number 18

Squash competes at the Howe Cup

by ANNE STEVENSON, STAFF WRITER

   Two weekends ago the women's squash team competes in Nationals, held at Yale University in hopes of beating Williams to win the B flight for the second year in a row. It was frustrating being in the B flight after Bowdoin beat Dartmouth and had been so close with Brown and Cornell, all of which were in the A flight. Bowdoin simply resolved to win their own division then. The women were hungry for revenge after losing to Williams earlier in the season 7-2. Unfortunately, the women were in for disappointment.
   Bowdoin was ranked #10 in the nation and were seeded #2 going into the tournament. We played St. Lawrence in the first round, which we won handily 9-0. Next up was Colby, who was slightly tougher, but did not pose too much challenge and everyone from Bowdoin won their match. The women knew that the hard part was coming in the finals. For the third year in a row we would be playing Williams for the championship.
   On Sunday they went into our matches pumped and excited to settle the score. Everyone was in the zone visualizing and listening to music to get mentally ready. This would be the last team match for the five seniors. Today was not going to be their day though.
   Sophomore Merrill Muckerman '03 brought in the first win after a hard match; her individual games were close in score, but she ended up winning 3-0. Liz Steffey '01, who has been rocking the Casba this season by winning all of her matches except for Trinity, then brought in the next win. She also had a tough match, but dominated and won 3-1. Meanwhile, on the other courts, Lindy Stanley '03 just lost to her opponent, and Laura Inkeles '01 was struggling in her match.
   At times it looked as if Laura was going to come back and take the match, but she finally lost in four. Leila "Ali" Mountain '02 hit her stride after studying abroad this fall at just the right time. She also had a tough match, but managed to pull it out in three. As always, my roommate Dana "You better not be using my shampoo" Betts showed us why she is an All- American and easily won her match 3-0. At this point Kate Lubin '01 lost her match, and Cristin O'Brien '02 was down 1-2 in a very close match. The Williams opponent was up in the fourth game, but Cristin came back to win that game in a tie breaker. Cristin played her heart out, but ended up losing in a tie breaker in the fifth game. The teams were tied 4-4 in games and Anne Stevenson '01 had yet to play. Unfortunately, Anne had been sick that weekend and was bedridden all Saturday. Even so, she came out strong and won the first two games without much difficulty. It looked as if Anne had it in the bag, but after the first two games, her body gave way and she could not maintain the same level of intensity. In the next three games, the Williams opponent dominated and ended up stealing the match 3-2 to win the championship 5-4.
   The Bowdoin women were really disappointed because the championship was almost in their grasp, but also content because they had accomplished so much this season. Co-captain Dana Betts '01 reflected, "We went out there with a strong, determined attitude and played our hearts out. Everyone, especially the seniors, really wanted the championship and even though we lost, I was really impressed with everyone's effort and improvement over the season." Beating Dartmouth and losing just 5-4 to Brown and Cornell is the best that the women's squash team has ever done here and that is something to be proud of. This team is losing a lot of seniors who have carried the team through the past four years. It is going to be a rocky road ahead for women's squash, but we are confident that Coach Fortson will bring the team through with style.
   This weekend Dana Betts, Liz Steffey, Jamie Shea, and Wasif Khan will be competing in the Individuals at Harvard.