No. 14 women’s squash (9-7, 6-1 NESCAC) headed to Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. this weekend with hopes of bringing home the NESCAC championship. The Ephs were in good form going into the weekend, having won five of their last six regular season matches, all against NESCAC opponents.
On Saturday morning, the Ephs were set to face off against the No. 16 Middlebury Panthers (9-7, 5-4 NESCAC) in the quarterfinals. The Panthers were a familiar NESCAC rival for the Ephs, as this was the second meeting between the two teams this season. The Ephs won their first matchup 8-1.
Nora Brant ’25, Rhea Pandit ’27, Amanda Solecki ’25, and Christina Yen ’28 were first up against the Panthers. Pandit won decisively in 22 minutes, securing victories in her first three games by margins of four, five, and six points, respectively. Brant dropped the first game 11-13, but went on to dominate the next three games and win her match in four games. Yen was defeated in three close games, and Solecki was unable to secure a victory after winning her second game 12-10.
The Ephs were tied with the Panthers at 2-2 going into the second wave of matches. Naomi Jefferson-Sambanis ’27, Theresa Kay ’25, Rachel Miller ’27, and Melanie Wang ’27 took the court next. Much like Pandit, Miller made quick work of her opponent, winning decisively in three games. Jefferson-Sambanis narrowly defeated her opponent in five games, winning the decisive last game 11-9.
Wang and Kay’s matchups were also nail-biters. Wang tied the match 2-2, winning her fourth game in a 14-12 battle. However, she fell short in the deciding fifth game, losing 9-11. In her fifth game, Kay went down 6-2, but stormed back to take the match.
Jefferson-Sambanis said that her teammates knew it would take a valiant effort to earn this win. “We knew that [Middlebury] would come back a lot stronger than they did last time,” she wrote to the Record. “The main thing was to be just as focused this time around and not to get too overconfident.”
Kay’s five-game match was the nail in the coffin, as the Ephs built their advantage to a decisive 5-3 score which eventually led the Ephs to a 6-3 win.
As the quarterfinals concluded, the Ephs turned their attention to the No. 2 Trinity Bantams (13-1, 4-0 NESCAC). The Bantams have won the NESCAC women’s squash title every season since the tournament’s establishment 17 years ago. They have also been the host and top seed each year.
This year was no different, as the Bantams defeated the Ephs 9-0. Jefferson-Sambanis, Anika Kakarla ’27, and Yen opened for the Ephs, but Trinity won all three matches in straight sets.
Down 3-0, it was then up to Brant, Pandit, and Solecki to turn the tables, but the Bantams did not let up. They won each of the three matchups in three sets to secure another trip to the NESCAC finals.
While Catherine Li ’28, Miller, and Wang were not able to stop Trinity’s momentum, Roshni Pal ’26 was able to win her exhibition match in three games to finish the tournament for the Ephs.
The Ephs will play the No. 12 Dartmouth Big Green (2-9) on Saturday in their last home match of the season, which will conclude with the CSA National Team Championship from March 7 to March 9 in Philadelphia.
