Gretchen Vosters Spruance

Gretchen Vosters Spruance (born 1947) is an American former tennis and squash player. The daughter of Bunny Vosters, she won many national championships across both sports. Considered the best women's squash player in the country at her peak, she won a record 12 national squash titles in singles, doubles and mixed doubles play. Spruance was also a top tennis player, winning the Delaware state championship 20 consecutive years while also teaming with her mother to win a record 24 mother-daughter national titles. For a period of over 15 years, she and her mother won every match they played in mother-daughter competitions. Early life Gretchen Vosters Spruance was born in 1947 to tennis player Bunny Vosters and her husband, the architect Francis Vosters. At age nine, she started regularly competing in tennis tournaments, winning age group competitions in both singles and doubles play. Spruance attended Wilmington Friends School where she competed in tennis, field hockey and basketball. From 1962 to 1965, she won the girls' singles title at the Delaware Interscholastic Tennis Championships each year, including by a score of 6–0, 6–0 in her senior year. In state and Middle States tournaments starting at the under-11 age group and through the 18-and-under age group, Spruance never lost a match. She attended and graduated from the University of Delaware.

Career At age 16, Spruance began competing in mother-daughter tournaments with her mother. At times, she was ranked the number one player in the Middle States as well. In 1967, Spruance won the women's singles title at the Delaware State Tennis Championship for the first time. In the later years of her career, she only competed at the Delaware tournament, wanting to spend more time with her family. Across the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, the two won a total of 24 mother-daughter national titles together. This included titles on grass, clay, and hard courts, and in 1977 they won titles on all three. For a period of over 15 years, they had never lost in mother-daughter play, which Robert Robinson of The Pensacola News noted was "without a doubt ... the longest winning streak in modern-day history". Robinson stated, "Bunny Vosters and Gretchen Spruance experience a sudden speech impediment when it comes to pronouncing the word lose. They simply can't say the word. Rather than say lose, they prefer to use it."

Spruance also became regarded as one of the greatest competitors in women's squash history.

During her squash career, Spruance was regarded as the number one women's player, but was not included in the national rankings due to not playing enough tournaments, instead receiving the designation "insufficient data".

Spruance regularly practiced with her mother in both squash and tennis. She had sons Jake and Corby during her career. Her step-daughter, Lea Spruance, also played squash.