The Girls' Varsity Squash Team hosted Groton on Wednesday, January 29, traveled to Dana Hall on Friday, January 31, and hosted Tabor on Saturday, February 1.  Thus, the team has played a grueling seven matches in two weeks!

Against Groton, #1 Katie Bull, #2 Zarena Jafry, and #3 Olivia Dewey played very close matches, but in the end could not quite break through against their very strong opponents, and Middlesex ended up losing the match 7-0.

Against Dana Hall, things were even closer, and #2 Zarena Jafry gained her match's momentum in the the third and fourth games, but her highly skilled opponent game back from several game points down to win the match in the fourth 12-10. #4 April Simms was in a very similar place, winning the third game and putting pressure on her opponent in the fourth, but her opponent also came back to win the fourth game 13-11. #5 sophomore Hadley Parker followed the same pattern, triumphing in the third game and getting ahead in the fourth, but once again, her Dana Hall opponent closed strongly to take the 4th game 13-11.  Thus, though the team was close to breaking through at 3 or 4 positions, Dana Hall proved too resilient in the end, and the Zebras ended up losing a match 7-0 that was closer than the final scored indicated.

 After two matches with so many close calls, the team was eager to establish its strength more quickly against visiting Tabor on Saturday--and indeed it did so. Junior Zarena Jafry won quickly at #2, followed by senior April Simms at #4; junior Katie Bull followed with an efficient match at #1, and senior Olivia Dewey held well at the front to triumph decisively over her opponent, after a close first game. Thus, the team established four victories quickly, while Tabor won at #6. At #5 sophomore Hadley Parker lost the first game, won the next two easily and was up in the fourth game, but her Tabor opponent went on a streak of her own and came back to take the fourth game and lead 9-6 in the fifth. At this point it seemed that Hadley had put up a valiant fight, but the match had slipped away from her.  However, she proceeded to win 7 of the next 9 points, to win a very dramatic fifth game 13-11.  When Tabor triumphed at #7, the match ended in a 5-2 MX victory. The girls were happy to win a close match.