Headed into the Howe Cup, the national championship of women's squash, Coach Satinder Bajwa believed that the 4th-seeded Crimson had been made stronger by its recent setbacks to Penn, Princeton and Trinity, and that his team was capable of avenging those losses.
Harvard was much improved, from the first position all the way down to the ninth.
But it was not enough to reclaim the national title. After an expectedly easy 9-0 victory over 5th-seed Dartmouth on Friday, the Crimson fell just short of a huge upset against No. 1 Penn on Saturday afternoon, falling 5-4. Then on Sunday, Harvard looked to stick it to Trinity in the third-place match, but once again fell by a 5-4 margin, as they did two weeks ago.
Despite the close losses, the Crimson (7-5) had plenty to be happy about. The team's performances against Trinity and Penn were a vast improvement over the regular season, and with only two seniors in its starting nine, title hopes for next year look bright.
"We played our hearts out," said sophomore Margaret Elias, Harvard's No. 1 player. "We came in there as the underdogs, and proved to everyone that we're a good team, no matter how inexperienced we are."
Trinity 5, Harvard 4
But unfortunately for the Crimson, it improved about as much as it could without actually winning the match.
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