Squash Participates in Constable Invitational
PRINCETON, N.J. (Jan. 14, 2008) - The Mount Holyoke College women's squash team opened up its spring semester slate at the prestigious Betty Constable Invitational this weekend. Princeton University hosted the annual tournament, which got underway on Friday and concluded on Saturday. The event consisted of two draws. Members of the Princeton, Trinity College and Mount Holyoke teams made up the fields.
Representing Mount Holyoke in the 16-player Main Draw were junior Pamela Anckermann (Guatemala City, Guatemala/Monte Alto) and first year Vidushi Gurunada (Colombo, Sri Lanka/Lyceum Int'l School). Both players fared well against some of the top competitors in the nation and improved their chances of being selected as All-Americans.
Anckermann overcame injury to defeat Princeton's Maggie O'Toole 3-0 in her first match of the tournament. With her win, she advanced to the quarterfinal round, where she met up with Neha Kumar of Princeton. Despite taking one game off the third-ranked player in the nation, she fell 3-1. In the consolation bracket of the main draw, Anckermann suffered a 3-0 setback to fourth-ranked Lauren Polonich of Trinity. She then battled 11th-ranked Joanne Jee of Trinity to the limit before bowing 10-8 in the fifth game. As a result, she finished in eighth place.
Gurunada was paired up with 14th-ranked Emery Maine of Princeton in the first round. She nearly took a game but went down by a score of 3-0. That loss left her in the main back draw of the consolation bracket, where she edged Kaitlin Sennatt of Princeton in five games. The next morning, she faced Princeton's Margaret Kent. The match came down to the wire with Kent prevailing 10-8 in the fifth game. Gurunada was defeated by Maggie O'Toole of Princeton in her final contest of the weekend. She ended in 12th place overall.
Sophomores Laura Robinson (Paget, Bermuda/Saltus Grammar School) and Laurian Lue Yen (Kingston, Jamaica/St. Paul's (N.H.)), along with junior Menusha Hettiarachchi (Colombo, Sri Lanka/Holy Family Convent) and senior Elizabeth Wright (Lexington, Mass./Phillips Exeter) participated in the 14-player Second-Flight draw.
Hettiarachchi came away with fourth place in the second draw of the tournament. She cruised in the first two rounds, defeating both Chauncey Kerr of Trinity and Robinson in straight sets. In the semifinals, she met Casey Riley of Princeton and lost by a score of 3-0. Hettiarachchi was then downed by Princeton's Aly Brady 3-0 in the consolation match of the bracket.
Robinson upended Trinity's Kim Palterman 3-0 in her opening match, setting up a quarterfinal round matchup with Hettiarachchi. After falling to her teammate, she overcame a one-game deficit to defeat Hadley Schroll of Trinity 3-1. In her final match, she beat Trinity's Julia Rosenthal in straight sets to cement her final position of fifth place.
Lue Yen rebounded from a 3-0 opening round loss to Rosenthal to finish 2-2 on the weekend. She defeated Trinity's Schuyler Livingston 3-0 in her second match, placing her in the quarterfinals of the back draw consolation bracket. She met up with Wright, winning 3-1 in a closely contested match. Lue Yen then fell in straight sets to Kim Palterman of Trinity. Her final placing was tenth.
Wright was blanked by Schroll in her first round match. After receiving a bye in the first round of the consolation bracket, she fell to Lue Yen. In her final round, Wright overcame a 2-0 deficit to earn a 3-2 triumph over Trinity's Monet Johnson.
Mount Holyoke (4-1) will return to action on Thursday, when it visits Amherst College for a match beginning at 1:00 p.m.
Results breakdown:
Pamela Anckermann
Pamela Anckermann (MHC) def. Maggie O'Toole (Princeton) 3-0 (9-7, 9-3, 9-4)
Neha Kumar (Princeton) def. Pamela Anckermann (MHC) 3-1 (9-2, 9-3, 9-10, 9-5)
Lauren Polonich (Trinity) def. Pamela Anckermann (MHC) 3-0 (9-5, 9-7, 9-0)
JoAnn Jee (Trinity) def. Pamela Anckermann (MHC) 3-2 (6-9, 9-3, 7-9, 9-1, 10-8)
Vidushi Gurunada
Emery Maine (Princeton) def. Vidushi Gurunada (MHC) 3-0 (9-2, 9-7, 9-3)
Vidushi Gurunada (MHC) def. Kaitlin Sennatt (Prin.) 3-2 (4-9, 9-6, 7-9, 9-6, 9-5)
Margaret Kent (Princeton) def. Vidushi Gurunada (MHC) 3-2
Maggie O'Toole (Princeton) def. Vidushi Gurunada (MHC)
Menusha Hettiarachchi
Menusha Hettiarachchi (MHC) def. Chaunsey Kerr (Trinity) 3-0 (9-0, 9-1, 9-1)
Menusha Hettiarachchi (MHC) def. Laura Robinson (MHC) 3-0 (9-1, 9-2, 9-1)
Casey Riley (Princeton) def. Menusha Hettiarachchi (MHC) 3-0 (9-6, 9-7, 9-1)
Aly Brady (Princeton) def. Menusha Hettiarachchi (MHC) 3-0 (9-1, 9-7, 9-1)
Laura Robinson
Laura Robinson (MHC) def. Kim Palterman (Trinity) 3-0 (9-1, 9-2, 9-2)
Menusha Hettiarachchi (MHC) def. Laura Robinson (MHC) 3-0 (9-1, 9-2, 9-1)
Laura Robinson (MHC) def. Hadley Schroll (Trinity) 3-1
Laura Robinson (MHC) def. Julia Rosenthal (Trinity) 3-0
Laurian Lue Yen
Julia Rosenthal (Trinity) def. Laurian Lue Yen (MHC) 3-0 (9-5, 9-1, 9-7)
Laurian Lue Yen (MHC) def. Schuyler Livingston (Trinity) 3-0 (9-5, 9-1, 9-7)
Laurian Lue Yen (MHC) def. Elizabeth Wright (MHC) 3-1 (3-9, 9-6, 9-1, 9-0)
Kim Palterman (Trinity) def. Laurian Lue Yen (MHC) 3-0 (9-3, 9-0, 9-5)
Elizabeth Wright
Hadley Schroll (Trinity) def. Elizabeth Wright (MHC) 3-0 (9-2, 9-5, 9-2)
Laurian Lue Yen (MHC) def. Elizabeth Wright (MHC) 3-1 (3-9, 9-6, 9-1, 9-0)
Elizabeth Wright (MHC) def. Monete Johnson (Trinity) 3-2 (9-10, 6-9, 9-0, 9-3, 9-0)
Main Draw
Second-Flight Draw
Permanent link to this story: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/news/stories/5518073