BatesStudent.com | No. 9 Women\'s Squash Wins Kurtz Cup

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SPORTS:

• No. 9 Women\'s Squash Wins Kurtz Cup

• Bowdoin Dethrones Women's Basketball in Instant Classic

• Curll Sets School Record; Swimming 11th at Nescac's

• Did You Know? a Lesson in Lewiston Sports History

• Godsey Sets Ecac Mark in Weight Throw; Women's Track 6th

• Johnson and Hubbard Qualify for Ncaa's

• Mckenna Qualifies for Alpine Ncaa's

• Men's Basketball Succumbs to Amherst in Finals

• Men's Track Third at Div. III's; Anderson Tops N. England in 5000m

• Senior Spotlight - Rob Weller

• Weisskopf Named All-american; Men's Squash Finishes Ranked 13th

PICTURES:

Alex Verhave

Jenny Imrich '08 stretches for a shot.

No. 9 Women\'s Squash Wins Kurtz Cup
By Dora Plummer
Sports Writer
Last Updated: 03/08/05 (4:29 pm)
The Bates women\'s squash team traveled to Princeton, New Jersey to play in the Howe Cup over February break. Held from Feb. 18-20, the Howe Cup is the national championship for Division I squash. The competition is divided into two flights; the A flight typically is composed of such national heavyweights as Harvard, Yale and Princeton Universities, and Trinity College. The B flight is made up of colleges like Bates, St. Lawrence and Cornell Universities and many other NESCAC schools. Following their Kurtz Cup win last year, the Bobcats ended their team season on a high note and brought home the Cup again. While the Howe Cup is the trophy won for the A flight winner, the Kurtz Cup is awarded to those who win the B flight. By winning the Kurtz Cup, the women ended their season ranked ninth in the nation.

Their first match was on Friday against Tufts University. While the Jumbos made it to the quarterfinals, they did not get much farther; the Bobcats beat them with a 9-0 win. Number 8 tri-captain Maggie Smith \'05 did not let her opponent get a single point and almost the same can be said of Jenny Loring \'05: the number 4 tri-captain only let her challenger get two points.

Following their win on Friday, the women advanced to the semi-finals on Saturday. Up against St. Lawrence University, the Bates women won the game 7-2. The two losses were from numbers one Melissa Lue Yen \'06 and two Kelsey Engman \'07. Number 10 Audrey Blanchette \'06, played a shut out match, and Katie Lynch of St. Lawrence walked away without scoring a single point. Number 8 Smith and Number 9 Caroline Lemoine \'08 both won their matches with scores of 9-0, 9-1, 9-0.

Clearly boosted by their wins from the past two days, the Bobcats advanced to the finals on Sunday, Feb. 20 against Cornell University. Rivals the Big Red proved to be the women\'s most challenging competition for the weekend. Yet this is all relative as the Bobcats won the game 6-3, clinching their second Kurtz Cup in two years. The losses for the team came from Lue Yen \'06, number 3 Charlotte Gerrish \'08 and Loring \'05, yet both Gerrish and Loring played into a fourth set. Number 2 Engman \'07 played valiantly and won the match in the fifth set.

With the win of the Kurtz Cup, the women finalized their goal of four consecutive years in the national top 10. Emotions were high, according to tri-captain Loring as this was the last time that the women would compete as an entire team.

At individual nationals the following weekend at Dartmouth, Kelsey Engman \'07, Charlotte Gerrish \'08, and Jenny Loring \'05 all competed in the Holloran Cup. Engman defeated Caroline Shannon of Amherst to finish in the top 50 in the national rankings, while Gerrish also finished in the top 50. Loring finished among the top 64 players in the country in her senior season.