Women’s squash earned one win and two losses during the College Squash Association National Team Competition over the weekend, finishing the season ranked No. 14 in the nation.

The No. 14 Colonials (7-16) opened up competition against No. 11 Cornell (7-11) Friday. An 8–1 loss pushed them into the consolation bracket, where they topped No. 15 Middlebury College (9-9) 5–4. The win pushed the squad to the championship round of the consolation bracket, where they fell 5–4 to No. 13 Williams College (18-7) Sunday and ranked one spot better than last year’s No. 15 spot.

“We had dealt with injuries, we dealt with other issues, and the fact that we were still able to improve from last year to this year is great,” head coach Anderson Good said. “I’m very pleased.”

Friday
The Colonials fell to Cornell 8–1 Friday in a loss that sent the squad to the consolation bracket.

Senior Emma Tryon notched a win for the Colonials at the No. 3 spot on the ladder, topping senior Colby Gallagher in five games. Junior Vedika Arunachalam was the only other Colonial to extend a match beyond three games, succumbing to freshman Alexis Shatzman after five rounds of competition.

All other Colonials lost in three sets, but Arunachalam and senior Engy Elmandouh both had games that extended beyond 11 points.

The Colonials last met up with Cornell in late January as part of their two-week stretch of road trips. The Colonials lost to the Big Red 9–0 in that match-up, losing by an average of 5.9 points with four scoreless games.

“The first match against Cornell, we knew that would be tough,” Good said. “But what the goal was this weekend, collectively, was to see improvement from when we had played all these teams in the regular season, and there was improvement against Cornell.”

Saturday
The Colonials picked up their first win of the weekend in a tight 5–4 victory over Middlebury Saturday.

The squad notched wins in the first three rungs of the ladder. Junior Zoe Foo Yuk Han, playing at the No. 1 spot on the ladder, and Elmandouh at the No. 2 rung picked up their first victories for the weekend. Tryon took her second win of the weekend, downing sophomore Gwen Davis in three games.

Junior Zuha Nazir and Arunachalam also picked up wins for the Colonials at the No. 5 and 6 spots on the ladder, respectively.

“That win determined us finishing higher than we did last year in terms of national ranking, which was great,” Good said.

Elmandouh downed sophomore Ideal Dowling in four games, including one game where she held Schaus to zero points. Nazir, who lost her first game, came back to win the next two before dropping the fourth to Beinkampen. She closed out the match with an 11–6 victory in the fifth game.

Moscivici and Stevenson saw the squad’s first two losses at the No. 8 and No. 9 spots, respectively. Both Colonials were downed in three games, bringing the score to 2-2 for the next round of competition.

Tryon’s win pushed the Colonials to a 3-2 lead, but a three-game loss from Hinckley at the No. 7 spot on the ladder brought the score back to a 3-3 tie moving into the last round of competition.

Foo Yuk Han picked up a win in three games to advance the team back to the lead. But junior Natalie Madden topped Pang at the No. 4 spot on the ladder after five rounds of tight competition, bringing the teams to a 4–4 tie with only one match left to go.

In the Colonials’ last match of the day, Arunachalam took on freshman Caroline Arena. The rest of the squad gathered to cheer Arunachalam on as she coasted to a three-game victory over Arena, bringing home the win for the Colonials.

Sunday
The Colonials finished out the weekend with a 5–4 loss to Williams Sunday, ending the season ranked No. 14 in the country.

The squad grabbed wins at the first three rungs of the ladder as well as at the No. 6 spot. All five Colonial losses came in just three games.

“It was a very lopsided 6-3 a month ago,” Good said, referring to the last time the two teams met in late January. “So for it to be a close 5-4 today just shows that we’re trending in the right direction, we’re working on the right things.”

Tryon topped junior Sarah Willwerth in five games Sunday, the last of which extended to 12-10 before Tryon brought home the win. With the win, Tryon was the only member of the squad to complete an undefeated run in the tournament.

Elmandouh earned her second victory of the weekend Sunday. After losing the first game 13-11 and coming back to win the next two, Elmandouh’s matchup with freshman Haley Jefferson was cut short when Jefferson decided to forfeit, giving Elmandouh her second win of the weekend.

The loss sees the end of team competition for the squad. It also marks the last time seniors Elmandouh and Tryon appear in team competition for the Colonials.

“It’s just been four years of relentless, bull-dog type mentality on the court from both of them, and they’ll be two people that’ll be very tough to replace,” Good said. “And all of their contributions, on and off the court, are greatly appreciated.”

Members of the women’s squad will next appear in the CSA National Individual tournament in Philadelphia March 6. Selections for the competition will be made after the men’s CSA National tournament next week.