Following a disappointing previous week, the Bates women’s squash team took on visiting Amherst last Tuesday night.
The Bobcats, ranked thirteenth nationally, came away with a comfortable 6-3 victory in the NESCAC matchup.
Cheri-Ann Parris stepped into the No. 1 position in the absence of All-American Nesrine Ariffin and won comfortably, taking her match in straight sets, 11-3, 11-9, 11-6.
Sophomore Lesea Bourke and freshmen Lauren Williams also won straight set victories.
Sophomore Myriam Kelly won a thriller at No. 2 in four sets, winning 12-10, 8-11, 11-7, 11-5.
“It was nice to get a home win,” said senior captain Ali Bragg, “especially over another NESCAC team.”
The Lady Cats were back in action on Saturday, as they traveled to New Haven, Connecticut, to take part in the Yale Round Robin.
Their tournament began with a matchup on Friday against Stanford, ranked seventh in the nation. Despite another strong effort from Cheri-Ann Parris, Bates fell 8-1 in the match.
Parris won a back and forth five-set match at the No. 1 position, 11-7, 12-10, 2-11, 7-11, 11-7. Freshman Lauren Williams was the only other Bobcat to take a game in the match, losing in four set at the No. 4 position, 11-6, 11-7, 9-11, 11-4.
Saturday saw the Bobcats take on two top-15 opponents, beginning with a matchup against the Cornell Big Red.
Bates struggled against the Big Red, who are ranked #6 in the nation. Parris and Lesea Bourke were the only players to take games in the match, with Parris going down in four sets at No. 1 and Bourke losing a five set battle at No. 3.
Parris took the first set in her match 11-9, but was shut out the rest of the way, 11-6, 11-5, 11-8.
Bourke actually fought her way to a 2-1 lead, but couldn’t hold on and lost a tough fifth set 11-9.
After a short break, Bates took on #15 Franklin and Marshall.
The Lady Cats upped their game against the Diplomats, but still came out on the wrong end of a 6-3 loss. Parris continued her hot streak, easily winning her match in straight sets, 11-1, 11-8, 11-2.
Also winning matches were Williams (8-11, 12-10, 11-6, 11-9) and junior Rakey Drammeh (11-7, 11-7, 11-9).
Bates closed out the weekend on Sunday against Dartmouth, the #8 team in the country.
Perhaps fatigued from a long weekend of matches, the Cats were blanked by the Big Green, going down 9-0 in the tournament finale. Parris didn’t go down easily, although she couldn’t close out a 2-1 lead. Parris would eventually lose in five difficult sets, the Cats’ best result on the day.
Bourke and Drammeh were the other Bobcats to win games. Both lost in four sets; Bourke by a score of 11-8, 11-9, 8-11, 11-8, and Drammeh by a score of 11-4, 10-12, 11-3, 11-5.
Senior captain Ali Bragg noted that the Cats had “tough weekend,” but pointed out that a number of injuries forced players to play out of their normal spot.
Bragg finished by saying, “I think we really surprised three of the top ranked teams in the country with the level of play and fight that everyone had in them.”
The Lady Cats will return home for their final home match of the season, when they host Boston College on Friday, January 25th at 6 PM.
