POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (December 4, 2016) — The Vassar College women's squash team (6-2) finished 1-1, shutting out Bard College 9-0 before falling to Tufts University 5-4 at Kenyon Hall on Sunday.
Two Brewers went 2-0, as freshmen Sydney Nemphos and Alessandra Pilkington were perfect on the day.
"I thought as a team, we played really well," Nemphos said. "I got to watch a lot of my other teammates, and I thought they did a really great job. I tried to work on a lot of things coach (David Ames) has been telling me to work on, and it really paid off."
The Brewers breezed by Bard 9-0 to open the day. No. 1 Jiamin Wu, No. 2 Isabelle Bertram, No. 3 Nemphos, No. 4 Carly Scher, No. 5 Cherylann Mucciolo and No. 6 Pilkington all beat their opponents in straight sets.
To highlight the shutout, Nemphos held Audrey Hutchinson to just one point, 11-0, 11-1, 11-0, Scher held Nadia Russell pointless, 11-0, 11-0, 11-0, and Mucciolo held Christa Gammage to just four points, 11-4, 11-0, 11-0.
"We first played Bard, which is an up-and-coming team," Nemphos said. "They just started their first program I think after 20 years of not having a women's program, which is awesome, so that was our first match… I just tried to focus on hitting really good serves, and then after doing that, making sure I just moved her and not killing the ball, trying to play some points."
The bottom three spots were won by default, as the Raptors ran out of players.
Vassar's second match against Tufts was a much closer affair, as the Brewers were edged by a slim 5-4 margin.
At the one, Hannah Nice won in four sets, taking down Hannah Burns, 11-6, 11-2, 9-11, 11-4.
"(Nice) had some tough games in her last match and came back and really dominated in the last game," Ames said.
In perhaps the day's most exciting match, Nemphos battled Olivia Ladd-Luthringerhauser to five sets at the four spot, 8-11, 11-4, 11-5, 6-11, 11-9.
"Against Tufts, that was a completely different story," Nemphos said." I tried to use my best shots, tried to put it all out there, and it was a really good match against a really great opponent. It was really fun."
Pilkington also picked up her second win of the day, defeating Sinclair Meggitt at the seven, 11-5, 11-8, 8-11, 11-9.
"Allie did tremendously," Ames said. "Just watching her play, she was really dominant in her entire match, which was great."
Diana Howland also earned a win, taking down Katie Deveux in four sets, 11-4, 11-8, 10-12, 11-8.
"A lot of grit," Ames said when asked what he saw out of the team. "They really pushed hard. They persevered. I was really tremendous."
During the day's competition between the Jumbos and Raptors, Tufts won 9-0.
Vassar returns to play on Saturday, Jan. 21, facing host Haverford College at 2 p.m. and Johns Hopkins University at 5 p.m. in Haverford, PA.
—VASSAR—
