HomeArticlesAround the Courts: College Squash Highlights (2/2/2014)

Around the Courts: College Squash Highlights (2/2/2014)

College Squash AssociationNorthampton, MA — Many teams ended long losing streaks to rivals during a week filled with many events: NESCAC Championships, Seven Sisters Championship, and round robins in Maryand, St. Louis, and Stanford.

The Penn men hosted Princeton on Monday. The Quakers earned a 7-2 victory, which ended a 45-match and 40-year losing streak to Princeton.

On Tuesday, the battle of Beantown played out with the Boston College men defeating Boston University. BC followed the match up by defeating the Tufts men, 6-3, on Wednesday. The Tufts women edged BC, 5-4. MIT also defeated Northeastern, 5-4.

On Wednesday, the Princeton women visited Penn. The Quakers defeated the Tigers, 6-3. This marked the first time in Penn squash history that both the men and women defeated Princeton in the same season. Trinity hosted and defeated the Princeton men, 6-3. In Maine, the Bates men and women each defeated Colby.

Drexel hosted Haverford on Thursday. Both Dragon squads shoutout the Fords.

On Friday, Cornell hosted Franklin & Marshall. The Big Red women shutout the Diplomats; however, the men were defeated, 3-6. The Cornell men defeated Navy, 8-1. The Rochester men defeated Western Ontario, 7-2.

On Saturday, the Harvard squads defeated Cornell. The Yale men shutout Penn, while the Quaker women earned a 5-4 victory over Yale. St. Lawrence hosted Franklin & Marshall. The men won, 5-4, while the women lost, 3-6. Navy defeated Hobart, 8-1.

Columbia hosted Dartmouth. The Columbia men earned their second straight Ivy League victory by defeating the Big Green 8-1. This was Columbia’s first victory against Dartmouth. The Dartmouth women edged the Lions, 5-4.

Also on Saturday, the Stanford women was upset by Brown, 4-5. Both Haverford squads hosted and lost to Boston College and Bucknell.

On Sunday, Yale defeated the Princeton women, 5-4. Princeton defeated the Stanford women. After being tied at 4-4, the Yale men won the final match to capture the victory. Both Penn squads defeated Brown. Harvard visited and defeated both Columbia teams.

F&M wrapped up their road trip with a 6-3 victory over Rochester.

On Saturday, the annual Seven Sisters Championship was hosted by Smith College. The event usually features four teams (Mount Holyoke, Smith, Vassar, and Wellesley), but only three teams participated this season because Vassar is not fielding a women’s team. In the team portion of the event, Mount Holyoke was seeking their eighth consecutive title. After both Mount Holyoke and Wellesley defeated Smith, the 22nd-ranked Lyons faced 23rd-ranked Wellesley for the title. The Blue Pride avenged their December loss to the Mount Holyoke by posting a 6-3 victory. This is Wellesley’s first Seven Sisters title since the 2001 – 2002 season.

This weekend, Hamilton hosted the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) squash Championships.  In women’s action, Friday night featured three matches. Amherst defeated Conn College, 8-1, Wesleyan defeated Colby, 7-2, and Bowdoin shutout Tufts. On Saturday in quarterfinal play, Trinity blanked Wesleyan, Middlebury defeated Hamilton, 7-2, Williams defeated Amherst, 7-2, and Bates defeated Bowdoin, 7-2. In the semifinals, Trinity blanked Middlebury, and Bates defeated Williams. Trinity defeated Bates, 9-0, in the finals. Here is the order of finish: 1. Trinity, 2. Bates, 3. Middlebury 4. Williams, 5. Hamilton, 6. Amherst, 7. Bowdoin, 8. Wesleyan, 9. Colby, 10. Tufts, and 11. Conn College.

In men’s action, the first round of the NESCAC Championships on Friday featured three matches. Colby defeated host Hamilton, 6-3, Bowdoin blanked Tufts, and Amherst defeated Conn College, 7-2. In quarterfinal play on Saturday, fifth-seeded Middlebury edged fourth-seeded Wesleyan, 5-4, Trinity blanked Colby, Williams defeated Bowdoin, 7-2, and Bates swept Amherst.  The semifinals saw Trinity extend its shutout streak with a 9-0 victory over Middlebury. Williams upset higher seeded Bates, 5-4. Trinity defeated Williams, 9-0, in the finals. Here is the order of finish for the tournament: 1. Trinity, 2. Williams, 3. Bates, 4. Middlebury, 5. Wesleyan, 6. Bowdoin, 7. Amherst, 8. Colby, 9. Hamilton, 10. Conn College, and 11. Tufts.

Many club teams were at a tournament hosted by Washington in St. Louis this weekend. The Minnesota women earned victories over Washington in St. Louis and California, but lost to Northwestern. In men’s action, Minnesota blanked Illinois Springfield, but lost to Washington in St. Louis. Washington in St. Louis was edged by Chicago, 4-5, but defeated Illinois Springfield.

Another group of club teams were at Meadow Mills in Maryland this weekend.  Lehigh defeated Siena and Duke, while Maryland defeated Ithaca, Penn State, Siena, and Duke.

Coaches and Team Contacts, please remember to enter your team’s results in the US Squash Scoring System on the day of each match. Each player must be named in the results (“Not on Roster” entries will not be tolerated) or penalties may be applied.

Schools are reminded that to qualify for the National Team Championships, a minimum number of matches must be played at specific periods of the season:

  • Varsity teams are required to play ten (10) matches against other CSA teams to enter team championships. At minimum, each team should have at least 6 different opponents. Varsity teams should play the majority of their matches against other varsity schools.
  • Club teams are required to play eight (8) matches against other CSA teams to enter team championships. In addition, club teams must play at least four (4) matches between January 1st and February 10th. At minimum, each team should have at least five (5) different opponents.

For a regular season match to officially count for ranking purposes, each team must have at least seven players. Except for Emerging Teams, matches with less than seven players per team will not count towards the required number of matches for entry into the National Team Championships.

For complete results from all of this weekend’s action, see Women’s Results and Men’s Results.

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