DiMauro wins national title

In 1982, a Penn freshman by the name of Alisia McConnell won the women's National Intercollegiate Championship, the national championship of collegiate squash. She went on to defend her title two years in a row. Fourteen years later, the Quakers women's squash team's answer to McConnell is freshman phenom Jessica DiMauro, the new women's Intercollegiate champion. Not dropping a single game in the entire tournament, DiMauro, a Canadian native, cruised to the U.S.'s No. 1 ranking "in style," as Penn coach Demer Holleran put it. "Jessica played better and better each day," Holleran said. "It's hard to pull yourself together to win six matches in three days." In early February, Harvard's Ivy Pocoda broke DiMauro's undefeated streak, winning 5-9, 9-6, 9-3, 4-9, 9-2. The two would meet again, this time in the final round of the Intercollegiates. But DiMauro, playing as the No. 1 seed, had no trouble disposing of the No. 3 seed Pocoda the second time around, winning 9-5, 9-4, 9-2. In fact, DiMauro didn't have much trouble with any of her opponents. Early Sunday morning she defeated the No.4 seed, Amherst's Harriet Ells, 3-0, in the semi-final round. "I felt a lot of pressure being seeded first," DiMauro said. "I was worried at first, but I played progressively better over the weekend." With the championship win, DiMauro is now ranked No. 1 in the national collegiate rankings. In a surprising upset, Dartmouth's Lori Sykes beat Penn senior Lissa Hunsicker, who was seeded No. 5-No. 8 in a close five game match. "I didn't play as well as I wanted to," Hunsicker said. "She's been playing well all season," Holleran said. "But she played nervous." Losing in the round of 16, Hunsicker finished No.11 and is a likely candidate for All-America honors. Penn freshman Dana Lipson, who was unseeded, upset Trinity's Serena Carbonelle, 3-1. "I wasn't expecting anything, just to play my best," Lipson said. "Dana has been playing progressively better over the course of the season," Holleran said. "She should be up for All-American honors as well." The fourth player to represent Penn at Intercollegiates was freshman Lindsay Moss, who lost her first match, 3-0, and dropped her final match, 3-2. "To have three of our players stand a chance to get All-American honors is really significant," Holleran said. "All in all it's been a great season." Next year, the Quakers will add another Canadian import to the team -- Katie Patrick, who played with DiMauro on the Canadian Junior National Team where DiMauro was ranked No. 1. DiMauro's success will surely carry over to next year, as will her rivalry with Pocoda, a sophomore.