SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. (Jan. 19, 2013) - After shouldering a tough-fought loss to #17 Wesleyan University in the morning opener of the Pioneer Valley Invitational, the Mount Holyoke College squash team rebounded for a 7-2 victory over #25 Wellesley in its second match. With the win, the #18 Lyons move to 3-5 on the season, while the Blue slip to 2-10 overall.
Mount Holyoke got victories from its first through seventh positions in the victory over the Blue, led by an 11-5, 11-5, 11-3 win at the top of the rotation by junior captain Randima Ranaweera (Colombo, Sri Lanka), who defeated Wellesley's Rosemary O'Connor (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) and is now 7-1 on the season.
First year Sherouk Khefagy (Cairo, Egypt) and junior Shaheen Madraswala (Mumbai, India) breezed through their matches in the second and third positions, respectively, while sophomore Samantha Rosado (Meriden, Conn.) overcame a third set loss to take the fourth and win by an 11-8, 11-4, 8-11, 11-4 margin over Blue junior Haley Vasquez (Bronx, N.Y.).
Senior captain Kathryn Brummer (Massapequa Park, N.Y.), who posted her first win of the season in the morning's opener against Wesleyan, cruised to victory in the fifth spot over senior Margo Sulmont by an 11-7, 11-6, 11-5 margin.
The Lyons also saw an outstanding effort in the sixth position as junior Elyse Taylor (Mission, Texas) battled back after losing the first set to defeat Wellesley's Alexandra Spiliakos (Lincoln, Mass.) by a 3-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-8 score. Also posting a win for MHC was sophomore Xianger Fei (Hanzhou, China), who recorded an 11-3, 11-2, 11-8 win against Blue senior Cara Kaufman (New Canaan, Conn.)
Against Wesleyan in the morning opener, the Cardinals saw wins at the fourth, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth positions propel them past the Lyons. Senior Grace Zimmerman (Chevy Chase, Md.) posted a key win at #4 as she defeated Rosado. Zimmerman took the first two sets by 11-5 and 11-4 margins, but had to hold off Rosado in the third set as the pair battled to a 16-14 margin in the Cardinals favor.
Mount Holyoke flourished in the top half of the lineup as Ranaweera, Khefagy, Madraswala and Brummer all claimed victory.
Ranaweera posted an 11-6, 11-5, 11-3 victory over Wesleyan's Mary Foster (Wallingford, Conn.), while Khefagy won a tough-fought 11-9, 4-11, 11-2, 12-10 match against Annie Maxwell in the second position.
Madraswala posted an 11-6, 11-4, 11-4 victory over Cardinals sophomore Lauren Nelson at the third slot, while Brummer recorded her first victory of the season in the fifth position with a 5-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-7 win over junior Nell Schwed (Brooklyn, N.Y.).
The Lyons are back on the court on Wednesday with a 7pm match at Connecticut College. MHC closes out the week at the Hamilton Invitational, hosted by Hamilton College. Mount Holyoke will face the host Continentals on Saturday (1pm) and then battle Franklin & Marshall (5:30pm). The Lyons then finish out the invite on Sunday against Northeastern (11am).
