At first, it looked as though Harvard women's squash Coach Steve Piltch would make things a little more interesting by sitting out his co-captains against Bowdoin.

But in less than 40 minutes, Harvard wrapped up the victory by winning its first five matches, with Sheila Morrissey defeating Bowdoin's Kristen Zwert in the clinching match in three straight sets, 15-8, 15-4, 15-4.

The Crimson, which eventually stormed to a 9-0 sweep, only lost three sets in the entire competition.

Playing without its number one and two players, the Harvard women's squash team crushed Bowdoin yesterday at Hemenway Gym in front of 45 spectators.

The match against Bowdoin was the Crimson's regular season opener, but it turned out an early Thanksgiving feast, as the racquetwomen destroyed the opposition.

"Bowdoin doesn't have a strong squash program, so sitting us out worked," Co-Captain Ingrid Boyum said. "The team is stronger this year. We were pleased with today's performance."

Freshman Mary Cist, one of five frosh who competed for Harvard, opened up the masscare with a 3-1 thrashing of Suzie Moore, 15-8, 12-15, 15-6, 15-10, which set the tone for the rest of the day.

"Diana and Ingrid were a little to strong, it was a better match for everyone," Piltch said of his decision to sit down his top two players. "We could lose. If we lose, we lose--it could be worse. They will be in the line-up next week against Brown."

Harvard's usual number four, Marianna Chilton, playing at number two, fell behind 2-1 in sets. The freshman rebounded to make a comeback, however, defeating Bowdoin's Erika Gustafson in a five-set thriller, 15-11, 11-15, 10-15, 15-12, 15-4.

Number three Jenny Holleran, pressed to play at number one, whipped Ginny Allen in three straight sets to close out the sweep for the racquetwomen.

"It was a good start. We are very happy with the teams performance," Co-Captain Boyum said. "We had five freshmen in the line-up, they all looked pretty nervous when they first stepped on the court. It was nice to see them work out of it doing the matches. They had a chance to test themselves on the court. Even though we won 9-0, there were a lot of close matches."

"We thought the matches went pretty well today. We all are psyched for the season," freshman Grace Sheffield said. "We have a pretty good team. We all have things to work on, as we learned by today matches. But overall, everyone played really well."

The Crimson will open Ivy League action next Tuesday when the racquetwomen host Brown.