Competing in an individual tournament against the elite squash players in the northeast, the Penn women's squash team went back to basics this weekend in the Constable Invitational and Princeton Championships in Princeton, N.J.
In the five flights of the two tournaments, two Quakers won their draws, one came in third and one came in fifth.
Junior Caitlin O'Neil and sophomore Lily Evans captured the two halves of the Princeton Championships' 3.5 draw. O'Neil, who was seeded first, had only one difficult match in the quarterfinals on her way to victory in the 3.5 Orange division.
O'Neil's No. 1 seed gave her a first-round bye. She then dismantled Princeton's Anne Erdman in the round of 16, 9-0; 9-1; 9-3.
In the quarterfinals, O'Neil fell behind Princeton's Taylor Tully two games to one, before pulling out two hard-fought wins of 9-7 and 9-5 to advance to the semifinals.
She then easily defeated West Chester's Catherine Popovich, the fourth seed, and Bates's Maggie Smith -- the second seed -- to win the tournament.
O'Neil said her win was mostly due to "hard work and focus," another example this season of Quakers coach Jim Martel's conditioning and fitness program paying off for the Penn squad, which has continually worn down opponents by outworking and outlasting them.
Evans lost only one game, also in the quarterfinals, as she took home the Princeton Championship in the 3.5 Black division.
Evans lost the first game of her quarterfinal match to second-seeded Katie Mandel of Yale, but came back to post a 4-9; 9-5; 9-4; 9-1 victory.
She went on to beat Princeton's Martha Kelley, 9-1; 9-7; 9-2; and Lawrenceville School's Carly Grabowski 9-6; 9-1; 10-8; in the final two rounds.
"I did a really good job of keeping the ball in the court," Evans said.
"I think I was more fit than my opponents," she added.
Martel felt that the Quakers (7-0, 2-0) focused on their squash fundamentals and making their shots in order to control the point.
The other strong finishers for the Red and Blue this weekend included sophomore Morgan Olson, who finished third in the Princeton Championships' 3.5 Orange division, and sophomore Rhea Bhandare, who won the consolation bracket of the Princeton Championships' 5.5 draw, earning a fifth place finish in the division.
With a match against No. 3 Princeton (3-0, 2-0 Ivy) coming up on Wednesday at 6 p.m., and a make-up match against No. 2 Yale (6-0, 3-0) on Saturday, Martel was not concerned about the ability of the No. 5 Quakers to perform at a high level this week after playing up to four matches over the weekend.
When asked if fatigue could possibly be an issue on Wednesday against the Tigers, Martel simply said, "no."
He plans to give the Quakers today off before resuming practice tomorrow.
Martel added that because the players had a chance to both compete against and watch players from Princeton and Yale in action this weekend, they will be able to prepare even better for the specific matchups they will face this week.
