NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Yale women's squash asserted its position in the national standings with an authoritative 7-2 victory over visiting Stanford on Friday night at the Brady Squash Center.

With their first loss of the season in last week's contest with No. 5 Trinity dropping the Bulldogs behind the Cardinal in the latest rankings, Yale set out to make a statement and did exactly that, with confident play against a talented opponent giving the team an edge that led to a comfortable margin of victory. 

As one might expect from two high-caliber squads, many of the individual games were won by slim margins, but the hosts consistently placed themselves on the winning end of those results.

Freshman Emily Sherwood produced strong play once again in the ninth spot, but not without some adversity. The young player found herself trailing 2-0 but roared back in the third with an 11-3 win. Two tight frames later, she had picked up a victory in the first wave of matches.

It was just as well-contested at the top of the lineup, where junior Jenny Scherl also outlasted her counterpart by a 3-2 margin. 

Both of Yale's defeats came despite fighting efforts that pushed the matchups to four and five games. 

In all, the victory showed how the composure and skill of the Yale team will continue to make the Bulldogs a factor on the national stage.

The second match of the evening set Yale against No. 13 George Washington. The home team had little trouble with its second guests, taking seven of the nine matches in just three games.

Two more matches await the Bulldogs on Saturday. No. 15 Middlebury is first up at noon, with No. 11 Williams following at 1:30 p.m.

Report by Evan Brown '16, Yale Sports Publicity

Results (via CSA):

vs. Stanford

vs. George Washington