January 31, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Episcopal still standing after PC squash showdown
by TOM UTESCHER

Penn Charter’s racquetwomen gave it their best shot, but fell just short of victory last Thursday afternoon, Jan. 24, succumbing 4-3 to defending national champion Episcopal Academy. EA’s Churchwomen took the top four matches to achieve an 11-0 record on the season, while the PC Quakers (5-3) won at five, six, and seven. Charter also won an exhibition match between the number eight players on the two squads, but this did not count in the official results.

The two teams first met back in early December at Penn Charter. Episcopal won 5-2, but the host Quakers had bumped up much of their line-up due to the absence of junior number three Lexi Glassman. In that bout, PC sophomore Skylar Dickey moved up to number five and defeated Episcopal senior Emily Halpern, while Charter’s other victory came courtesy of eighth grader Amanda Roberts, who played up at number six and won against EA freshman Grace Baena.

The players lined up quite differently for last week’s contest; PC had Glassman available, and intra-squad challenge matches had changed the positioning of the Episcopal athletes. Baena didn’t play this time around, but the top half of the Churchwomen’s ladder was formidable.

The clash between the two Girls Inter-Ac League powers occupied four of the 12 courts at the expansive Fairmount Athletic Club in King of Prussia, and after the first round of matches was completed the team score was knotted up at 2-2.

Dickey and Roberts had once again delivered the goods for Penn Charter, with Dickey defeating Episcopal freshman number six Marion Lurio, 2-9, 9-3, 10-9, 9-3, while Roberts wrapped up the seventh match in straight games, 9-5, 9-6, 10-8, over Kim Kirkpatrick, an EA senior. The Churchwomen picked up their early victories with some strong performances higher up the ladder. Junior Sarah Mumanachit powered through at number two, 9-1, 9-1, 9-4, against PC sophomore Sarah Domenic, and on the fourth rung tenth grader Monica Stone knocked off Kate Savage, a Penn Charter senior, 9-4, 9-6, 10-8.

In the only five-game battle of the day, PC 10th grader Morgan Strauss prevailed over freshman Taylor Trimble, 6-9, 10-8, 9-2, 7-9, 9-3, but this marathon unfolded in the exhibition match, and Strauss’ success didn’t affect the official team score.

Unfortunately for Quaker fans, Episcopal snapped the two-all tie quickly and decisively. Super sophomore Libby Eyre, now fully recovered from a shoulder injury that troubled her during the first month of the season, topped PC’s senior number one, Katie Corelli, 9-0, 9-3, 9-2. Two players named Lexi clashed at number three, where Charter’s Glassman came out on the short end of a 9-3, 9-1, 9-0 tussle with EA senior Lexi Van Arkel, who had played number one for the Churchwomen for the first month of the 2007-2008 campaign.

Van Arkel has already been accepted at Yale University, but another EA player headed for the Ivy League, Halpern (Penn), didn’t fare as well as her classmate in Thursday’s tilt. In the last match to finish, Halpern lost the opening round, 9-0, to Charter number five Tara Harrington, an eighth-grader. The Episcopal senior served for the second game at 8-7, but her young rival rallied to win, 10-8.

In game three, Harrington served twice for the match at 8-6, but Halpern staved off defeat for a time. The PC player eventually put the game away at 10-9 to take the match, but the overall victory belonged to Episcopal.