Trinity Women Upend Yale To Advance To Howe Cup Semifinals
by David Kingsley
February 15, 2013 New Haven, Conn. - The visiting Trinity College Bantams rattled off seven wins in the first eight matches in a 7-2 victory over the Yale University Bulldogs in the College Squash Association (CSA) National Championship (Howe Cup) Quarterfinals this afternoon at Brady Courts. Trinity, seeded No. 4 in the tournament field, improves to 15-2 and will play the top-seeded Princeton University Tigers in the Howe Cup Semifinals tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. at Yale. No. 5-seeded Yale, drops to 11-5 with its second loss to the Bantams this season, and will play No. 8-seeded Brown in a consolation game tomorrow.
Sophomore Chanel Erasmus (Capetown, South Africa) got things off to a good start for the Bantams with a 3-1 victory at the No. 9 position, and classmate Natalie Babjukova (Prague, Czech Republic) won a five-setter to stay perfect in 17 matches this winter in the No. 6 spot for a 2-0 Trinity lead.
After a 3-1 win by Yale's Shihui Mao in the No. 3 match, the Bantams recorded six unanswered points. Trinity junior Jennifer Pelletier (Richmond Hill, Ontario) dominated with a 3-0 win at the No. 8 spot, and senior tri-captain Robyn Hodgson (Aberdeen, Scotland) recovered from an 11-6 loss in the first game to take three close ones in a row by a combined score of 33-25. Bantam junior tri-captain Cataline Pelaez (Bogota, Colombia) outlasted Bulldog senior co-captain Katie Ballaine, 3-2, rebounding from a 2-1 deficit to take the last two games, 11-6, and, 11-8, to earn the clinching point.
Bantam sophomore Ashley Tidman (Lamor-Plage, France) and rookie Sachika Balvani (Mumbai, India) added victories for the visitors, before Yale sophomore Millie Tomlinson downed Kanzy El Defrawy, 3-1, to avenge a match-clinching loss at Trinity (5-4) on January 23.
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