Northampton, MA — This week, the majority of college squash matches occurred in Boston, Western Massachusetts, and New Haven. Continuing the theme of the season, there were upsets aplenty.
On Monday, Harvard visited Franklin & Marshall. The F&M men and women each fell to the Crimson, 0-9.
On Tuesday, the Trinity men visited Lancaster. The Bantams defeated F&M, 7-2. Also on Tuesday, Bates hosted Tufts. In the women’s match, the Bobcats beat the shorthanded Jumbos, 5-3. The Bates men shut out Tufts.
Fresh off last weekend’s victory over Harvard, the Penn women visited Trinity on Wednesday. As expected, the match was extremely close, featuring three 5-game matches. The Bantams, the defending national champions, emerged with a 5-4 over the newly crowned top-ranked Quakers. In the men’s match, Trinity won 7-2 over Penn. In George Washington’s first home match since early November, the Colonials hosted the Naval Academy. The Midshipmen navigated to a 6-3 victory.
Haverford visited Tufts on Friday. The Jumbos blanked both Haverford squads, 9-0.
The Pioneer Valley Invitational (PVI) began on Friday. The Western Massachusetts event is hosted by Amherst, Mount Holyoke, and Smith, and teams play matches at multiple locations throughout the weekend. At Mount Holyoke on Friday, Hamilton faced the Stanford men and Mount Holyoke. The Continentals’ men defeated Stanford, 6-3, while the women shut out Mount Holyoke. Colby faced Hobart and Mount Holyoke. The Mules defeated Mount Holyoke, 8-1, and Hobart, 9-0. Amherst hosted and defeated both Conn College squads. Hamilton and Conn College faced each other in the evening match. The Hamilton women defeated the Camels, 9-0. The men’s match was tied at 4-4, and Hamilton’s #9 won the individual match to give the Continentals a 5-4 victory. The Drexel men defeated Western Ontario, while the Drexel women defeated Smith.
A number of teams were at Yale this weekend for matches. On Friday, for the second week in a row, the Columbia men defeated the 3rd-ranked team in the nation. This time, it was with a 5-4 victory over Rochester. Not to be outdone, the 9th-ranked Columbia women earned a 5-4 victory over 8th-ranked Stanford.
Franklin & Marshall hosted Williams on Friday. The Diplomats defeated both Williams squads.
In Boston on Saturday, MIT and Wellesley each defeated both Haverford and Northwestern. Northwestern also edged the higher-ranked Haverford men, 5-4. The Haverford women shut out Northwestern.
In a highly anticipated showdown, Trinity hosted St. Lawrence. In the men’s match, 2nd-ranked Trinity defeated top-ranked St. Lawrence, 7-2. The Trinity women defeated the Saints, 8-1.
The Pioneer Valley Invitational continued on Saturday with 19 matches. The Colby men had a strong day. The 23rd-ranked Mules defeated #21 Amherst, 6-3, and Conn College, 8-1. In the women’s matches, Amherst and Conn both defeated Colby. Drexel defeated both Wesleyan and Bowdoin squads. Hobart went 2-0 on the day with victories over Stanford and higher-ranked Bowdoin. The Bowdoin women defeated Mount Holyoke. The Stanford men fell to Western Ontario and Conn College, while Western Ontario defeated the Conn College men. Both Amherst squads defeated Hamilton. The Hamilton men fell to Wesleyan, but the Hamilton women defeated the Cardinals.
Williams continued their Mid-Atlantic road trip. Against George Washington, the Williams men won 6-3, while the women lost 1-8. The Ephs also shut out both Georgetown squads.
At Yale on Saturday, the 6th-ranked Bulldogs faced 3rd-ranked Rochester. Yale defeated the Yellowjackets, 6-3. The Yale women shut out both Middlebury and Stanford. Columbia defeated both Middlebury squads. The Dartmouth women defeated higher-ranked Stanford, 7-2.
On Sunday, Haverford concluded their Boston trip with matches against Northeastern. The Haverford women defeated Northeastern, 8-1, while the 42nd-ranked Haverford men upset the shorthanded Huskies, who were ranked 34th coming into the weekend.
The PVI concluded on Sunday with matches at Amherst and Smith. Amherst lost to both Drexel teams. Bowdoin and Wesleyan traded matches. The Wesleyan men and the Bowdoin women each won 5-4. Bowdoin also defeated Smith.
The final stop of Williams’ road trip was at Navy. The Midshipmen won the match, 6-3.
At Yale, both George Washington squads defeated Middlebury. The St. Lawrence men rebounded with a 6-3 victory over Yale, while the Bulldog women defeated St. Lawrence, 9-0. The Trinity women defeated Stanford, and the Rochester men defeated Dartmouth, 7-2. The 10th-ranked Dartmouth women edged 7th-ranked George Washington, 5-4.
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.
