Rhea Bhandare, a sophomore on the Penn women's squash team, had some extra motivation Sunday in her match against Yale's Rachita Vora. The two were archrivals in India, and in the latest rankings, Bhandare was No. 25 and Vora No. 20.
This was just enough for Bhandare, as she defeated her old rival, 3-1, in a hard-fought match. After she dropped a tough first game, 10-8, Bhandare came back to win the next three by the close scores of 9-7, 9-6, 10-9.
The rest of the Quakers could have used something like Bhandare's incentives against Yale, however. Coming off their first loss of the season against No. 3 Princeton on Wednesday, the Red and Blue were overwhelmed by the second-ranked Elis, 8-1.
The win over Penn (7-2, 2-2 Ivy) capped a tremendous two weeks for Yale (8-0, 4-0), which looks to take over the top spot in the rankings after defeating previous No. 1 Trinity on Jan. 21. The Elis' top player, national No. 1 Michelle Quibell, won the prestigious Constable Tournament Jan. 25. The Elis then dispatched the Tigers on Saturday before coming to Ringe Courts Sunday.
Many of the Quakers led in their individual games by as much as 7-2, but could not put Yale's players away.
Penn coach Jim Martel cited this lack of killer instinct against the favored Elis as the biggest factor in the loss.
"Any time you're playing a really good team and a really good player, I think in the back of your mind you just have to sometimes realize that you can play at that level," Martel said. "I think sometimes some of our kids are afraid to win."
The Yale comebacks led to frustration among the Penn players for the remainder of their matches.
Junior captain Linda McNair fell victim to this frustration against Quibell. After losing, 9-3, in a hard-fought first game, McNair failed to win another point in the remaining two games. She felt the Quakers had a very positive outlook going into the match, but started losing that view when almost every Penn mistake was put away by Yale.
"They would win the point off any loose shot, whereas before we could stay in the rally," McNair said, referring to the victories that the Quakers had earlier in the season against weaker competition.
Martel said that other than being more aggressive, he would do little as far as changing the Quakers' physical style of play. However, he will try to instill more confidence in them.
"It's all mental now," Bhandare said.
It worked for her on Sunday, and the Quakers are hoping it will work for them for the rest of the season.
Yale 8, PENN 1
1. Quibell (Y) def. McNair (P) 3-0
(9-3, 9-0, 9-4, 9-10, 9-2)
2. Gross (Y) def. P. Pearson (P) 3-1
(9-0, 9-4, 9-10, 9-2)
3. McLeod (Y) def. Wegner (P) 3-0 (9-4, 9-2, 9-1)
4. Ho (Y) def. Ahluwalia (P) 3-1
(7-9, 9-7, 10-8, 9-0)
5. Bhandare (P) def. Vora (Y) 3-1
(8-10, 9-7, 10-8, 9-0)
6. McCrery (Y) def. Barrett (P) 3-0
(9-0, 9-3, 9-3)
7. Rapisarda (Y) def. Gupta (P) 3-0 (9-0, 9-3, 9-3)
8. Doline (Y) def. Riley (P) 3-0
(9-7, 9-2, 9-3)
9. Shields (Y) def. Cosgrave (P) 3-0
(9-3, 9-5, 9-7)
10. Schroll (Y) def. Evans (P) 3-2
(10-8, 2-9, 9-3, 7-9, 8-5)
