SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. (Jan. 15, 2012) – The Mount Holyoke College squash team saw its four-match winning streak come to an end with a 7-2 setback to 12th-ranked Middlebury College this afternoon in front of its home crowd. Sophomores Randima Ranaweera and Shaheen Madraswala came out on top for the Lyons, who entered the match ranked 13th in the latest CSA National Rankings. It was their first outing since December 8.
Ranaweera survived a scare in her number one match against senior Elena Laird. After taking the first two games with relative ease, she dropped the next two before closing things out with an 11-3 victory in the fifth. Meanwhile, Madraswala rebounded from an early deficit to defeat senior Kathryn Bostwick 3-1 in the number three contest. It was her fifth consecutive victory.
Mount Holyoke also received a solid performance from junior Kathryn Brummer, who fell 3-2 in her number six match against sophomore Amanda Chen. After stumbling out of the gate in the first two games, she battled came all the way back to even the score before falling 11-5 in the fifth.
Middlebury's remaining wins came from sophomore Abby Jenkins (2), first year Charlotte Dewey (4), first year Anne Wymard (5), junior Annie Ulrich (7), junior Lindsay Becker (8) and junior Molly Hubbard (9). All six players posted shutouts for the Panthers, who capped off their impressive weekend with an undefeated 4-0 record.
Mount Holyoke (6-4) is slated to host the annual Pioneer Valley Invitational next weekend. Both men's and women's teams will compete in the event, which is scheduled to begin on Friday and conclude on Sunday. Over the course of the weekend, approximately 40 matches will take place on the campuses of Mount Holyoke, Smith College and Amherst College.
Middlebury (4-4) will return to action next Sunday, when it visits Williams College for a NESCAC match beginning at 2:00 p.m.
