CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Columbia concluded the College Squash Association Women's Team National Championships on Sunday, earning an eighth-place overall finish. The championships were held at Harvard's Murr Center.
Columbia (7-7) was the No. 4 seed entering the tournament. The Lions started the championships on Friday, falling in a close match to No. 5 Yale, 5-4. Friday's result sent Columbia to the consolation draw, where they took on No. 8 Penn on Saturday. The Lions fell to the Quakers, 6-3, and concluded the championships on Sunday with another, 6-3, defeat to No. 7 Virginia.
"Even though we finished eighth, I'm very proud of how the team rallied," interim head coach
Joanne Schickerling said. "We had to shuffle positions after the quarterfinals, so I'm proud of how well the team fought and played this whole weekend. I'm really impressed with it."
First-year
Simmi Chan went 3-0 in her matches during the tournament. Chan, a First Team All-Ivy League selection, swept Yale's Elisabeth Ross at the No. 2 position on Friday. Saturday, she moved up to the No. 1 spot and swept Penn's Ashley Manning, 11-4, 11-7, 11-3, Chan wrapped up her undefeated weekend with another No. 1 victory over UVA's Meagan Best, 11-4, 12-10, 11-5. Chan's has now won nine straight dual matches and improved to 11-1 on the year.
Another first-year,
Sarah Cao, also impressed. Cao went 2-1 through the championships, earning a five-game win in the No. 6 match against Yale and a three-game win against Penn in the No. 4 spot on Saturday. Cao's only defeat came on Sunday, falling in a hard-fought, five-game match to UVA's Olivia Walsh, 8-11, 11-6, 4-11, 11-9, 7-11.
Columbia heads home to prepare for CSA Individual National Championships, which will be hosted by Penn this upcoming weekend, March 4-6. The men's and women's draws will be announced early this week.
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