WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – The Mount Holyoke College squash team returned to the courts on Friday afternoon, taking on Williams College and Bowdoin College at the Simon Squash Courts. Despite several hard-fought efforts, the #11 Ephs and the #18 Polar Bears bested the #28 Lyons by 9-0 margins. MHC moves to 2-8 on the season.

In the opener against the homestanding Ephs, MHC played strong despite the loss. The even's took to the court first as senior Syry Mitchell suffered an 11-2, 11-2, 11-1 defeat at the hands of Ellen Coombe. From the sixth position, graduate student Rose Minichiello fell to Melissa Swann, 11-3, 11-1, 11-2.

At four, sophomore Lessly Portillo was unable to get past Williams' Ananya Mahalinagam-Dhingra, falling 11-2, 11-3, 11-4, while from the second position, Lyons sophomore Ragini Ghose put forth one of the strongest efforts against Haley Parsons. She captured a 12-10 victory in the opening game, but was unable to hold on as Parsons rebounded for an 11-2 win in the second set. Edging out an 11-8 win in the third, Parsons sealed the win with an 11-3 score to capture the victory.

Junior Brandy Williamson also had a strong effort from the first position, shouldering an 11-5, 11-5, 11-6 loss to Nicole Friedman. Senior captain Allison Shilling suffered an 11-2, 11-3, 11-4 loss to Esther Baek at three, while at five, sophomore Tanishka Sachidanand fell to Alyssa Ritchie, 11-1, 11-1, 11-1. Senior captain Amanda Lee suffered an 11-1, 11-3, 11-2 loss to Anna Nicolson, while junior Kirina Gair-MacMichael fell to Charlotte Walsh, 11-2, 11-1, 11-1 at nine.

Against Bowdoin in the second match of the afternoon,  the Lyons had another strong effort. Playing a three-court system, MHC saw Minichiello battle Laura Howells at six. Taking the opening game by an 11-7 margin, Minichiello wasn't able to hold off Howells, who claimed tight 11-8, 11-6, 11-6 scores for the 3-1 win. At nine, MacMichael found herself down 2-0 to Perla Rubi and battled hard in the third set, but ultimately fell by a 14-12 margin.

Bowdoin's Virginia Ross then posted an 11-2, 11-1, 11-3 win over Shilling to put the Polar Bears up 3-0. At eight, Mitchell played an outstanding match. Down 1-0 to Mariela Mendoza, she battled to an 11-8 win in the second to tie things up. Despite the momentum, Mendoza rebounded for 11-4, 11-2 wins to take the match.

From the fifth flight, Sachidanand shouldered a tough 11-2, 11-4, 11-7 loss to Chloe Polikoff, while from two, Ghose kept things tight, but ultimately fell to Lindsey Bindra, 11-8, 11-5, 11-9. Lee then suffered an 11-2, 11-6, 11-6 loss to Zoe Wood at seven, followed by an 11-8, 11-6, 11-4 victory by Alexa Horwitz against Portillo.

Rounding out the action was Williamson from the top of the ladder, who was unable to hold off Sarah Nelson, falling 13-11, 11-2, 11-6.

The Lyons return to action on Monday when they travel to Amherst to face Yale University in neutral site action. That match will begin at 12pm.