SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. - The Mount Holyoke College squash team continued action at the 2019 Pioneer Valley Invitational on their home courts at the Kendall Sports and Dance Complex, posting a pair of victories on the final day of action. The Lyons edged Wesleyan University to open the morning's action by a 5-4 margin, marking the first victory for the Lyons over the Cardinals since December 8, 2013. MHC then went on to win an 8-0 decision against Bard College. MHC, which is ranked 25th in the national CSA polls, moves to 12-4, while the 21st-ranked Cardinals went to 5-6 and the 39th-ranked Raptors fell to 2-10.
In the opening match against Wesleyan, sophomore Genesis Lara Granados (Bronx, N.Y. / DeWitt Clinton) was the hero against the Cardinals as she battled through five-games to give the Lyons the match victory. Squaring-off against Emma Smith, she recorded a 15-13 win in the opening frame, while Smith battled back to tie with a 13-11 decision. The two battled back and forth until Lara Granados capped the win with an 11-5 score. The final line was 15-13, 11-13, 11-8, 9-11, 11-5. That win preceeded a win and loss at five and seven which ultimately tied the match at 4-all.
Sophomore Jennifer Mbah (Jamaica Plain, Mass./John D. O'Bryant School of Math and Science) gave the Lyons a 4-3 edge at five after she powered her way to an 11-13, 12-10, 11-5, 11-3 victory against Ale Imperiale. But the Cardinals bounced back, making it 4-4, as Annie Rocah bested senior Tanishka Sachidanand (Karnataka, India/Canadian International School), 11-8, 13-11, 3-11, 11-3. First year Mihiliya Kalahe Arachchige (Panadura, Sri Lanka/Sirimavo Bandaranaike Vidyalaya Colombo 7) earned her 12th win of the season from the top of the ladder, dispatching Wesleyan's Aditi Prasad, 11-9, 11-7, 11-4.
Rookie Maeve Watts-Roy (Louisville, Ky./DuPont Manual) earned the win at three with an 11-7, 11-7, 11-3 decision against Nina Premutico, while senior Ragini Ghose (Dubai/Millfield School) topped Ananya Vir at two by an 11-8, 13-11, 11-9 margin. The Cardinals picked up the win at eight as Sofia Melian-Morse bested sophomore Emma Robson (Amherst, Mass./Amherst Regional), 15-13, 11-6, 11-8, while at six, Wesleyan's Ale Lampietti grabbed an 11-8, 11-2, 11-5 win over Kuzivakwashe Madungwe (Harare, Zimbabwe / Arundel School), 15-13, 11-6, 11-8. The match before saw Wesleyan's Ale Lampietti
The match opened with a tough loss for the Lyons at four as senior Lessly Portillo (New Haven, Conn./Hill Regional Career Magnet) suffered an 11-7, 11-5, 11-3 loss to Natasha Feenstra.
In the second match against Bard, the Lyons posted a 1-0 score right from the get-go as rookie Giselle Cabrera (Bronx, N.Y./Bronx Center for Science & Mathematics) won by default from the eighth spot in the ladder. Robson earned a win on the afternoon from four as she bested Marlaina Yost by an 11-2, 11-3, 11-4. At six, sophomore Nicole Lara Granados (Bronx, N.Y./DeWitt Clinton) defeated Eva Crunblatt, 11-2, 11-1, 11-3, while from seven, rookie Melissa Marquez (New Haven, Conn./Wilbur Cross) earned an 11-0, 11-4, 11-2 victory over Alejandra Guzman.
At five, Genesis Lara Granados powered her way to an 11-3, 11-5, 11-4 win over Justine Zaki, while from three, Mbah recorded and 11-5, 11-4, 11-6 win over Riti Bahl. Portillo was also victorious in the second match of the day with an 11-7, 11-7, 11-4 win over Renad Bdair at two, while Ghose was the victor at the top of the ladder with an 11-4, 11-3, 11-2 win against Olivia Terzian. The day's action also marked a special milestone for Ghose, who recorded the 50th victory of her Mount Holyoke career.
Mount Holyoke is now idle until next Friday, when it hosts #24 William Smith at the courts in Kendall at 7:00pm.
