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No. 1 Crimson Sweeps Two Contests Easily

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EMILY A. PEREIRA

In her first match of the season, junior Laura Gemmell topped Dartmouth No. 1 Corey Schafer, 11-7, 11-7, 7-11, and 11-1 last night. The No. 1 Crimson topped the Big Green and Middlebury with ease.

The Harvard women’s squash team preserved its undefeated record with two wins against No. 8 Dartmouth (1-1, 0-1 Ivy) and No. 12 Middlebury (0-4) last night in Hanover, N.H.

The No. 1 Crimson (4-0, 1-0) defeated the Big Green, 8-1, and the Panthers, 9-0, as Harvard’s top eight swept the competition in a dominant showing in the early season matchups.

“Everyone played well,” co-captain Nirasha Guruge said. “It took some of us a bit of time to get used to the courts. But I think once we settled down ... I think we did a pretty good job.”

Freshman Megan Murray and junior Eliza Calihan didn’t travel with the team to Dartmouth yesterday, so players on the bottom of ladder moved up two spots to fill in.

“I think if we had [Murray and Calihan] we would have won 9-0 against Dartmouth too,” Guruge said. “But I am proud that we still we won ... against both schools even without these two players.”

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HARVARD 9, MIDDLEBURY 0

Harvard hadn’t played Middlebury since 1980, but the team didn’t miss a beat yesterday. The Crimson easily handled its opponent, not losing a single game in the second match of the night.

“We really are a bit of a powerhouse,” Crimson coach Mike Way said. “It was just business—getting on with it, executing the game plan, and coming away with a score line that reflects the strength of our team.”

“It wasn’t hard for us, but it was a good experience,” Guruge added. “It’s good to play a lot of different schools.”

Although this was the second consecutive game for the Crimson, Way said fatigue was not a factor because of the team’s early-season focus on fitness.

“We train pretty hard in the fall and then taper off in the spring because that’s when we have all the really tough matches,” Guruge said.

“We’ve been training for months, and everyone came to play today and played really well,” junior Laura Gemmell added. “Playing back-to-back didn’t rattle us at all.”

HARVARD 8, DARTMOUTH 1

Ivy League rival Dartmouth proved to be no match for Harvard in its first match of the evening, as only three of the eight Crimson wins went beyond the minimum three games.

“Dartmouth is a good school,” Guruge said. “They have some good players, but we’ve been training hard. There were some long rallies, but everyone managed to just pull through.”

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