PHILADELPHIA, PA. – The Wesleyan women's squash team was defeated by #17 Middlebury in the CSA Walker Cup Semifinals 8-1 Saturday. The Cardinals fall in the College Squash Association Walker Cup semifinals, moving to 8-11 on the year. #17 Middlebury improves to 12-6, advancing to the Walker Cup Championship on Sunday where they will face off against the #18 Georgetown Hoyas.
The Panthers were able to get out to a fast start in the Walker Cup Semifinals, defeating Wesleyan in the first five matches before Wesleyan's
Jaclyn Dichter '26 was able to secure Wesleyan's first victory of the day. Ditcher had a very competitive match against Middlebury's Caroline Arena that went five rounds with each of them being a battle (11-7, 4-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-7).
Middlebury swept six of their eight victories on the day, with their wins coming from: Lindsey Burham, Isabella Ronda, Margaux Comai, Maya Bardorf, Abbie Peterson, and Grace Santoro. They will advance to take on the second-seeded Georgetown Hoyas in the championship on Sunday.
Mira Bakshi '26 and
Julissa Mota '26 were the two Cardinals to avoid being swept, putting up great fights against the Panthers' Abby Holding and Kieran Suntha. Bakshi was able to take the first round against Holding 11-9, before dropping the next three (5-11, 15-17, 7-11) including a long battle in the third round that ended in Holding finally taking the round 17-15. Mota went down 2-0 (8-11, 5-11) before claiming the third round 12-10 to force a fourth round. Kieran Suntha was able to take her down in the 4
th round 11-7 for the Panthers' eighth victory of the morning.
Wesleyan will move on to the final day of the CSA Team Championships where they will compete in a third-place game against 6
th seeded Chatham who was defeated in the other semifinal by Georgetown.
