Harvard has a ten-day break before its final match at Yale on Feb. 20. After that, the NISRA Championship starts on Feb. 22.
In its final home match of the season, the women’s squash team gave itself a goodbye present with a 27-0 trouncing of Princeton.
Again spotlighting the seniors before the match, Bajwa and the Murr faithful recognized Carlin Wing and co-captains Margaret Elias and Colby Hall, who finished their careers at the Murr Center with strong victories.
“Everyone played really well both days,” Hall said. “We could have come in here more complacent, but everyone was very sharp and focused.”
The most dominating performance on Sunday belonged to Harvard No. 1 sophomore Louisa Hall, who allowed Princeton sophomore Annie Rein-Weston to score just a single point against her.
Following Hall’s 3-2 victory on Saturday against Penn, Bajwa said he has high hopes for the upcoming Howe Cup, to be held at Yale this weekend. The Crimson will likely face Penn in the first round, with rival Trinity lurking in the finals.
“Trinity and Harvard are very even,” Bajwa said. “If [Hall] starts finding her feet like that, then we can start to compete at the No. 1 level with Trinity. We’re headed in the right direction.”
Harvard Women 9, Penn Women 0
Harvard Men 8, Penn Men 1
The Crimson women blew past the No. 10 Quakers on Saturday. The only match that was ever in doubt was the No. 1 tilt between Hall and Penn junior Runa Reta, ranked third and fourth in the national polls, respectively.
Reta—who was ranked second in the preseason polls before taking the fall semester off to study abroad—stormed out of the gate and won the first two games easily. Hall’s drop shots were not falling and she generally seemed out of her rhythm. But she regained her composure in a heartstopping 10-9 third frame, and dominated the next two games, 9-1 and 9-4.
It was the second time in three weeks that Hall had taken three straight games against Reta. On Jan. 27, Hall came back against Reta in the third-place game of the Betty Constable Tournament at Princeton.
“I had this same thing happen before and knew I could do it,” Hall said. “So I went back in feeling pretty confident.”
The rest of the team swept through the Penn lineup without losing a game.
The Crimson men had a similarly easy time against Penn. At No. 1, junior Dylan Patterson held his own against tenth-ranked Richard Repetto through two games, but the Penn freshman and former Junior National champion overpowered Patterson down the stretch and won, 3-1.
Bullock began his perfect weekend with a three-game win, and fellow sophomore Ziggy Whitman also won at No. 3.