William Smith player Emily Hazenberg reports on her team’s matches at the Liberty League Championship, which was held on November 21st – 22nd.
Canton, NY — The William Smith women’s squash team entered the weekend with confidence after a great victory the previous weekend against the University of Rochester. We kept our hopes high knowing that we were competing against two strong teams. We knew we had to fight hard considering two solid players were absent from our ladder, and even though this was a great opportunity for our newcomers, this was a challenge we were ready to face.
We arrived early at St. Lawrence to cheer on our men’s team but as our match approached our hunger and tiredness were lurking behind. Our 6 PM match versus St. Lawrence took on a great start with powerful shots and smart moves. Our number 7 Annie Habecker and number 8 Courtney Leous had great matches that took them to four and five games. Our third win came from number 2 Medora Hartz who won in four games and had a close match the entire time. Each player was consistent in her game and had a great mix of rails and short shots that unbalanced her opponent. Number 9 Katie Riordan and Number 6 Olivia Beckwith were very close in winning their matches as both of them went to five games, but unfortunately fell short and were defeated by the Saints.
After a tiring evening match and an early wake-up call on Sunday, the Herons arrived back at the St. Lawrence courts to compete against Vassar. As we entered the courts, we knew this would be a challenge, considering Vassar defeated St. Lawrence the day before. Unfortunately, Vassar’s amazing short shots got the best of us and kept us from fully challenging them. However, our number 9 Katie Riordan was our golden player for the day; she was the only one who defeated Vassar in an exciting five-game match. She stayed composed and had great cross-court shots that surprised her opponent. Congrats to Katie for her first game and win in her collegiate career!
After a long, hard weekend competing against two great teams, our losses did not keep us from a positive outlook. Even though our scores might not show it, we worked hard, had some great rallies and intense battles. Thank you to St. Lawrence and Vassar for a great tournament. However, we will be back in action in Connecticut on December 5th and 6th to compete against another round of strong teams at the Wesleyan Round Robin.
