January 22, 2001

Squash Teams Earn Victories

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The men’s and women’s squash teams recorded impressive results in their weekend matches. The men rebounded from a 9-0 overall defeat at the hands of Ivy League rivals Yale on Saturday to post a 9-0 sweep over Hamilton and a 7-2 win against Brown yesterday. The women, led by no. 1 player Olga Puigdemont-Sola, swept aside the opposition, winning against Brown (6-3), Hamilton (9-0), and Yale (6-3).

While the men had a good weekend overall, they didn’t enjoy much success in their first matchup against Yale. They lost all nine matches, winning just a single set. Despite the one-sided results, Neal Soo felt the scoreline didn’t reflect accurately on Cornell’s performance.

“The match against Yale was disappointing,” he said. “I don’t think we should have lost 9-0 as the team is much better than the results went.”

Soo himself lost a tight match to his Yale opponent but rebounded by winning his next two matches.

If the defeat to Yale discouraged some players, they certainly didn’t show it in their play. They demolished Hamilton 9-0 on the same day, and defeated fellow Ivy League side Brown 7-2 yesterday afternoon. The Big Red is now 5-5 overall, 3-3 in Ivy League competition.

According to Soo, the recent intensive training has helped the team, with team members improving rapidly. This improvement was clearly shown by the team in its performances over the weekend.

On the women’s side, Puigdemont-Sola, Andrea McNeely, Kate Lytle, Melinda Lee, and Megan Schwartz won all three of their weekend matchups, helping the women to a 3-0 weekend. Overall, the Red is now 4-3 (3-3 Ivy).

Lee believes that the team’s success can be attributed to hard work and training.

“All the hard work has paid off,” she said. “We’ve trained hard and we’re all in better shape. The training was tough but rewarding.”

Most impressive during the weekend victories was Cornell’s 6-3 triumph over the Yale women.

“The difference between us and their players is that we were really out there to fight hard, play well and scare them” said Lee.

If the women’s results over the weekend are any indication, the Cornell squash team will be scaring more opponents than just the Yale women.

Archived article by Sun Staff