Elisabeth Ross, Penn Charter's sophomore number one, runs down a ball at the front of the court. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

At the Mid-Atlantic Squash Association's high school girls championships on February 4 at Episcopal Academy, teams from Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, Germantown Friends, and Penn Charter all wound up in the Division 1 consolation bracket after exiting the main draw in the first round.

SCH came away with fifth place overall after getting past both PC and GFS in consolation matches.

In the opening round, Penn Charter bowed to eventual champ Baldwin School, 8-1, with sophomore number one Elisabeth Ross saving the Quakers from a shutout by battling past the Bears' Meghna Sreedhar, 11-4, 11-9, 9-11, 10-12, 11-9. Ross would win her other two matches at MASA easily in three straight games.

Springside Chestnut Hill started out with a 6-3 loss to Lawrenceville School, picking up its three individual victories from junior number three Lilly Soroko (3-1), junior number four Hannah Larkin (3-2), and freshman number seven Abbie Rorke (3-1). Against the team that would become the runner-up, Episcopal Academy, Germantown Friends had a tough go, falling 9-0.

The Tigers bounced back with a 7-2 win in the consolation semifinals against Harriton/Lower Merion (HLM). Tenth-grader Daisy Lentz led the way with a 3-1 victory at number one, and other successful sophomores were number four Abby Duncan (3-2), number six Natalie Harrity (3-1), and number eight Jane MacRae (3-0). Junior Claire Weiss won in three games in the fifth spot, while freshmen Katie Benoliel and Lily Seldin were also 3-0 winners at number eight and number nine, respectively.

The Blue Devils and the Quakers squared off in the other semifinal in the consolation bracket, with SCH prevailing, 7-2. Ross locked down the number one match for Charter, whose other positive outcome belonged to junior Meredith Bernstein at number eight (3-1).

Soroko (3-0), Larkin (3-1) and Rorke (3-0) won again for Springside Chestnut Hill and this time they were joined by Rorke's 11th-grade sister Grace at number five (3-0), senior number two Taylor Ferry (3-1), freshman Maggie Pearson at number six (3-0) and sophomore Emma Yeatman at number nine (3-2).

These matches set up a meeting between SCH and GFS in the finals of the consolation bracket, which, in essence, would determine the fifth and sixth-place finishers overall.

The Blue Devils won this encounter, 6-3, taking all of the number two through seven matches in straight games thanks to Ferry, Soroko, Larkin, Pearson, and both Rorke sisters. The three Germantown Friends victories also featured 3-0 scores; Lentz at number one, and MacRae and Seldin at eight and nine.

There was another 6-3 outcome in the seventh/eighth match as Penn Charter ended the tourney by knocking off the HLM squad. Ross cruised in three games at number one, but the Quakers had to forfeit the number nine match since one of their regulars was unable to play on Saturday afternoon.

From number five on down everyone bumped up one spot, but PC was still able to prevail in the fourth through eighth positions. Stationed here were (in descending order) sophomore Alexa Lenfest (a 3-1 winner), juniors Charlotte Murray (3-0), Chloe Master (3-1) and Bernstein (3-1), and sophomore Lexi Kaiser (3-1).

Baldwin, whose roster includes Chestnut Hill resident Grace Steelman (a junior), won the MASA championship in a 7-2 final over Episcopal. Steelman's older sister, Morgan, is a freshman playing at Princeton University, where her teammates include junior Olivia Fiechter, a GFS grad, and Isabel Hirshberg, a sophomore out of Penn Charter.