SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. – The Mount Holyoke College squash team suffered an 8-1 loss to Bates in their final game of the Pioneer Valley Invitational. The #11 Bobcats move to 7-2 on the season, while the #21 Lyons slip to 6-7 overall.

Bates jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the match, securing victories in the third, sixth and ninth positions on the ladder. In the third, Bates' Lesea Bourke (Greenwich, Conn.) posted a 3-0 (11-3, 11-1, 11-1) victory over MHC's Samantha Rosado (Meriden, Conn.).

The sixth position match pitted Lyons' junior Xianger Fei (Hangzhou, China) against sophomore Lauren Williams (Bulawayo, Zimbabwe). Despite a strong battle in the first two games, Williams prevailed with the 3-0 (11-7, 11-5, 11-2) decision.

In the nine's, Mount Holyoke first year Amy Sanchez (Roxbury Crossing, Mass.) suffered a 3-0 (11-6, 11-5, 11-0) defeat at the hands of Bates' first year Emma Dunn (Bellevue, Wash.).  The fifth spot on the ladder featured a match-up between Lyons' first year Allison Shilling (New Canaan, Conn.) and Bates senior captain Rakey Drammeh (New York, N.Y.). The visitors came up with the win as Drammeh posted a 3-0 (11-3, 11-5, 11-2) victory to push Bates up by a 4-0 margin.

Mount Holyoke senior Katrina Intal (Bronx, N.Y.) was featured in the second position, taking on Bates' senior Samantha Matos (New York, N.Y.). It was a close finish in the first game with Matos taking it by an 11-7 margin, but the Bates senior proved too strong as she powered her way past Intal, 3-0 (11-7, 11-6, 11-5).

Sophomore Catherine Ryan (Longmeadow, Mass.) shouldered a 3-0 (11-4, 11-3, 11-1) loss to Bates' Ashley Brooks (Roslindale, Mass.), while MHC senior Elyse Taylor (Mission, Texas) fell to Chloe Mitchell (Chatham, N.J.), 3-1 (11-6, 11-5, 7-11, 11-1). Lyons' first year Sanjna Merchant (Mumbai, India) later fell to first year Charlotte Cabot (Dover, Mass.), 3-0 (1-11, 1-11, 2-11).

Mount Holyoke's lone point of the match came in the top position as senior captain Randima Ranaweera (Columbo, Sri Lanka) took on Bates' Myriam Kelly (Bronx, N.Y.). After losing by an 11-6 margin in the opening game, Ranaweera powered her way to victory in the next three games for a 3-1 (6-11, 11-3, 11-4, 11-7) victory.

The Lyons are now idle until next Sunday when they travel to Yale University for a pair on neutral site games against Colby (10am) and Bowdoin (11:30am).