No. 7 Virginia Downs No. 11 Dartmouth 8-1

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 8 Virginia women’s squash team (6-2) closed out the weekend with an 8-1 victory against No. 11 Dartmouth (1-2) on Sunday (Dec. 3) at the McArthur Squash Center in Charlottesville, Va.

The Cavaliers held an 8-0 lead before Dartmouth picked up a five-game victory on the final court.

Virginia’s top three, senior Megan Best, sophomore Lina Tammam and senior Olivia Walsh, all picked up dominant 3-0 victories.

Junior Caroline Pellegrino also won in three games on court seven, battling through her first two 11-8 and 12-10 before sealing the win against Nathalie Taylor with an 11-4 victory.

Junior Maureen Foley took her fifth game 14-12 to win her match 3-2 against Priya Verma at No. 4.

Freshman Clare Minnis was down 0-1 when she won her second two games 13-11 and 12-10. She closed out the victory against Ellie Burke with an 11-5 win in the fourth game.

Senior Erin O’Connor came out ahead in one of the closest matches of the day, winning 11-8, 12-10, 9-11, 12-10 against Zayna Usman at No. 9.

The match was Virginia’s final contest until mid-January.

FROM HEAD COACH MARK ALLEN

“Today’s win was the icing on the cake for what has been a great opening semester for the women. I think this is the best start I can remember to a season. Today’s match against No. 11 Dartmouth had ‘banana skin potential’, as they are a deep team, with little drop off in their playing level from position 1 through 9, so I was anticipating some close matches, especially at the back end of the line-up. But the girls showed no sign of complacency and got the job done – convincingly. Today’s win takes us to 6-2 this first semester – through a tough opening schedule that featured five of the top 10 ranked teams in the country. It’s been a job very well done. The key now will be maintaining the hard work and professional attitude that has gotten us to this point through winter break and into our first few weeks of training in January. We’ve got some great second-half matches in front of us that will likely include both No. 6 Drexel and No. 4 Stanford at our conference championships and then No. 3 Princeton and No. 9 Cornell before heading to Philadelphia for the National Team Champs in March.  I’m already looking forward to it!”

CAVALIER NOTES

• Virginia improves to 4-0 all-time against Dartmouth
• Lina Tammam, Olivia Walsh and Nili Sprecher all improved to 6-2 this season
• Erin O’Connor is 2-0 this season

UP NEXT

• Virginia returns to action on Friday, Jan. 19, playing at Chatham

 #7 Virginia 8, #11 Dartmouth 1

1 | Meagan Best (VA) def. Maria Ramirez (DART) 11-5, 11-0, 11-5
2 | Lina Tammam (VA) def. Ellie Clifford (DART) 11-2, 11-6, 11-4
3 | Olivia Walsh (VA) def. Chelsea Cho (DART) 11-7, 11-4, 11-4
4 | Maureen Foley (VA) def. Priya Verma (DART) 3-11, 11-8, 11-5, 8-11, 14-12
5 | Clare Minnis (VA) def. Ellie Burke (DART) 9-11, 13-11, 12-10, 11-5
6 | Emily Schuster (DART) def. Eliza Mills (VA) 8-11, 11-6, 5-11, 11-5, 11-5
7 | Caroline Pellegrino (VA) def. Nathalie Taylor (DART) 11-7, 12-10, 11-4
8 | Nili Sprecher (VA) def. Callie Worth (DART) 11-5, 10-12, 11-7, 11-2
9 | Erin O’Connor (VA) def. Zayna Usman (DART) 11-8, 12-10, 9-11, 12-10
Exh |  Aubrey Lennon (DART) def. Annabelle MacTaggart (VA) 3-11, 10-12, 11-6, 11-7, 11-1