Hartford, Conn. – The Trinity College women's squash team reached the summit of college squash once again in 2018-19, returning to the College Squash Association (CSA) National Team Championship match for the second time in as many years, finishing as the second-best team in the country once again. At the Howe Cup, the No. 3-seed Bantams topped No. 6 Penn and No. 2 Princeton before falling to No. 1-seed Harvard in the championship match.
Trinity, coached by Wendy Bartlett (35th season), finished the year with a 17-3 record and captured its 13th-straight New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Championship. The Bantams won seven straight matches to open the season before falling, 5-4, versus Princeton on December 10th, who they would later best in the Howe Cup semifinals. The squad went on to win their last six-of-seven matches to close out the regular season.
The Bantams were a perfect 5-0 during the fall semester, winning every match on their schedule between November 28th and December 8th. During the stretch, Trinity won over Mount Holyoke, Drexel, George Washington, and NESCAC opponents Bowdoin and Bates. The Bantams opened up the 2019 calendar year with a hard fought, 6-3 victory in Hartford over No. 8 Columbia before falling to Princeton for the team’s first loss all season.
Despite the setback against the Tigers, the Bantams rattled off another win-streak of six-straight to improve to 12-1 overall. During the run, Trinity outscored its opponents, 49-5, highlighted by a dominant, 8-1 victory over No. 5-ranked Penn at home. Trinity fell to top-ranked Harvard before heading into the NESCAC tournament where the Bantams triumphed over both Wesleyan and Amherst before defeating Williams to win their 13th consecutive NESCAC Championship. The Bantams finished the season with wins in the quarter and semifinals of the Howe Cup, cruising to an 8-1 win over Penn in the quarterfinals and downing Princeton, 7-2, in semifinals, before falling to No. 1 Harvard in the championship match.
At the CSA National Singles Championships, senior co-captain Jenny Haley (Newport, Wales), junior Vanessa Raj (Penang, Malaysia), and sophomore Akanksha Salunkhe (Vasco de Gama, India) each won Holleran Bracket championship titles. Haley outlasted Harvard's Sophie Mehta in five games to capture the Holleran West title while Raj won, 3-1, against Virginia's Emma Jinks to take the Holleran South crown and Salunkhe dusted Mount Holyoke's Mihiliya Arachchige, 3-1, to win the Holleran North title, coming back from an 11-9 loss in the first game to take the next three, 11-9, 11-5, 11-9.
It was another accolade-filled season for the Bantams. First-year Sarahi Lopez (Zapopan, Mexico) was selected as the 2019 New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year while junior Salma Alam El Din (Cairo, Egypt) and sophomore Min Jie Teh (Klang, Malaysia) were named to the All-NESCAC First Team and Haley and Raj were selected to the Second Team. The Bantams also laid claim to six CSA All-Americans as Lopez and Teh earned First Team honors and Alam El Din, Haley, Raj and Salunkhe were eache named to the Second Team.
Lopez becomes the first player since Trinity's Kanzy El Defrawy '16 in 2013 to sweep the Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year honor. It also marks the 10th time a Bantam has been selected as the NESCAC Player of the Year. She is the third straight player from Trinity (Vanessa Raj – 2017, Min Jie Teh – 2018) to earn NESCAC Rookie of the Year honors and eighth overall. Haley went 20-4 during her final season, finishing her career with a 66-12 mark and becoming just the ninth Bantam ever to accumulate 60 victories. Salunke led the squad with a 22-2 record while Raj and Alam El Din combined for 25 wins on the year as well.
Coach Bartlett was officially inducted into the CSA Hall of Fame on Saturday, February 23 during the CSA National Team Championship (Howe Cup) at Trinity's George A. Kellner Squash Center. Bartlett was one of two coaches and five former players, including former Trinity All-American Amina Helal '03, to be inducted in this year's class. Bartlett was honored as the NESCAC Coach of the Year in 2012-13, 2014-15, 2015-16, and 2017-18. On an individual level, 40 of Bartlett's players have earned All-American honors under her guidance.
Haley, El Din, Teh and sophomore Campbell Brown earned NESCAC All-Academic honors thanks to their hard work in the classroom this year while Haley was additionally named to the NESCAC All-Sportsmanship team due to her positive contributions to the sport.