Northampton, MA — Another busy weekend for college squash, which included the Little Three Championship, tournaments hosted by the Naval Academy and Hamilton, and a number of upsets.
All teams that competed this weekend MUST record their match scores as soon as possible in the US Squash Database. If scores are not reported, it is impossible to rank teams accurately, and penalties, including possible removal from the rankings, will occur.
On Saturday, the annual “Little Three” squash tournament was hosted by Amherst College. This event is a competition between rivals Amherst College, Wesleyan University, and Williams College. It is considered the oldest conference rivalry in college athletics. In the men’s tournament, Williams continued its winning streak by defeating Amherst 7-2 and Wesleyan 9-0. After only losing at the #1 position, Amherst claimed second with an 8-1 victory over Wesleyan.
For the women, Williams won its 12th consecutive Little Three crown. The Ephs defeated Wesleyan 9-0 and Amherst 7-2. The match for 2nd-place was of considerable interest. Dating back to 1981, Wesleyan had not beaten Amherst in 41 attempts. The closest match in that time period was a 6-3 Amherst victory. Yesterday, Amherst escaped with a 5-4 victory, with only one match being decided in straight games. Next weekend’s NESCAC Championships (hosted by Trinity and Wesleyan) may be an opportunity for Wesleyan to end Amherst’s streak.
In Ivy League action, the 2nd-ranked Yale women hosted 4th-ranked Princeton. Despite many long matches, the Tigers could not overcome the Bulldogs. In the end, Yale solidified their ranking with a 7-2 victory and remained undefeated in Ivy League play.
On Thursday, Penn traveled to Princeton. After five matches, the Quaker women fell behind 1-4. Princeton had won match numbers 2, 6, 8, and 9. Penn won the next three matches to tie it at 4-4. The final match of the evening was between Penn captain Annie Madeira and Princeton’s Libby Eyre. The two players went to high school together and faced each other numerous times. Madeira captured the match and Penn defeated Princeton.
The Penn men were not as fortunate in their trip to New Jersey. Princeton defeated the Quakers 9-0.
Yesterday, the 3rd-ranked Princeton men stormed into New Haven. The Tigers were looking to upset the Bulldogs to take over the second ranking position. The match was intense to say the least. Tied at 4-4, the match came down to the the number four match between Princeton’s Peter Sopher and Yale’s Naishadh Lalwani. Lalwani captured the match and Yale captured the 5-4 victory over their Ivy League rivals.
The Trinity men headed to upstate New York to face Rochester and Cornell. Against Rochester, the Bantams won the top 5 matches, but lost positions 6, 7, and 8 in five-game matches. They also defeated Dartmouth 7-2.
The Cornell women won a tight match against 8th-ranked Dartmouth, 5-4, and swept Williams. The men’s and women’s Cornell versus Trinity scores were not reported at the time of publication.
Also in upstate New York, St. Lawrence hosted Middlebury. The Middlebury men, ranked 13th in the latest CSA rankings, were defeated 3-6 by the 15th-ranked Saints. Western Ontario earned its first victory of the season against CSA opponents by sweeping St. Lawrence. The Middlebury women swept St. Lawrence.
Hamilton hosted a number of teams this weekend. The Hamilton men defeated Drexel 9-0, but lost to Harvard 0-9. In women’s action, Hamilton defeated William Smith and Drexel, but lost to Mount Holyoke. Mount Holyoke also defeated Colgate.
Navy hosted Bucknell, Colgate, Lafayette, and Lehigh this weekend. The Midshipmen won all their matches and for the third consecutive year have recorded at least 20 wins. Lehigh and Lafayette had a tight match with Lehigh emerging with a 5-4 victory. At the tournament, Colgate went 3-1, Bucknell went 2-2, Lehigh went 1-3, and Lafayette went 0-4.
Coaches, Team Contacts, and SIDs may nominate players to be the [hpow] by contacting Michael T. Bello. Nominations are due each Monday by 6 PM ET.
For complete results from all of this weekend’s action, see Women’s Results and Men’s Results.
