WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — No. 6 Columbia earned victories from the top five players in their lineup and rode that momentum to defeat No. 13 Williams College, 6-3, Saturday afternoon on the Ephs' campus.
Playing at the No. 1 for the first time, first-year
Sarah Cao earned a three-game victory and her teammates at Nos. 2-5 all followed suit. Columbia (3-1) won four of the five matches in three games and also earned a default point at No. 9 as Williams (0-5) was playing with just eight competitors.
"The top of our lineup was really dominant," Columbia interim head coach
Joanne Schickerling said. "A lot of them were playing a position higher than usual, but they really stepped up to the competition. We had a mixture of newcomers and upperclassmen who prepared well and fought hard. They're a solid team and battle for every point. They stayed composed and stuck to the game plan to finish their matches really quickly."
Junior
Ellie McVeigh and sophomore Renée Chan helped the Lions go up 3-0 early. McVeigh was dominant in her match at the No. 3 position, allowing her opponent just eight points through the three games combined. Chan powered through three close games, 11-9, 11-8, 11-8.
Williams earned victories at the No. 6 and No. 8 spots to level the score but
Erica McGillicuddy got the Lions back on top. The junior from Toronto breezed through the first two games, 11-2, 11-4, and recovered form a 12-10 defeat in the third to earn Columbia's third point of the afternoon.
Sarah Cao clinched the match from the top court in three games and
Elizabeth Lentz added to the victory from the No. 5 spot. Lentz and Cao both won in three games.
Columbia's
Julia Fink and
Anika Kanchi both made their collegiate debuts in the scoring nine on Saturday. Schickerling is pleased with the potential the two sophomores showed. "It was the perfect opportunity for Anika and Julia to step into the top nine," Schickerling would say. "They have a lot of potential and today gave them the opportunity to get exposed and compete under the pressure. I'm excited to see how they improve through the rest of this year and beyond."
The Lions return to action after the turn of the calendar year when they host Stanford at the SL Green Streetsquash Center on January 7 at 12 p.m. ET.
For the latest on the Columbia squash programs, be sure to follow the teams on
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Instagram (@CULionsSquash), on
Facebook (Facebook.com/CULionsSquash), or by visiting GoColumbiaLions.com.
#6 Columbia 6, #13 Williams 3
(1)
Sarah Cao (COL) def. Theresa Kay (WIL): 3-0 (11-5, 11-4, 11-2)
(2)
Erica McGillicuddy (COL) def. Yu Quan Ng (WIL): 3-1 (11-2, 11-4, 10-12, 11-5)
(3)
Ellie McVeigh (COL) def. Mira Kamat (WIL): 3-0 (11-5, 11-1, 11-2)
(4)
Renee Chan (COL) def. Amanda Solecki (WIL): 3-0 (11-9, 11-8, 11-8)
(5)
Elizabeth Lentz (COL) def. Kathryn Wright (WIL): 3-0 (11-7, 11-5, 11-4)
(6) Nora Brant (WIL) def.
Pranjali Sharma (COL): 3-0 (11-8, 11-7, 11-9)
(7) Nikita Srivastava (WIL) def.
Anika Kanchi (COL): 3-1 (13-11, 8-11, 11-7, 11-5)
(8) Alexandra Pear (WIL) def.
Julia Fink (COL): 3-1 (11-4, 11-7, 7-11, 11-4)
(9)
Rewa Bharma (COL) wins on default
Order of finish: 9 (DEF), 3, 4, 8, 6, 2, 1, 5, 7
