Hatfield, MA — The 2015 – 2016 college squash season has commenced.
The George Washington women were the first varsity squad to begin the season. They opened with an 8-1 victory over Georgetown on October 23rd.
Vassar opened the season on October 24th. The Brewers defeated the Colgate women, 5-4. The Vassar men visited Bard. The two squads developed a rivalry last year. If the 2014-2015 season is any indication, Bard’s 6-3 victory to open the season may be the beginning of a back-and-forth series for the neighboring schools.
MIT opened the season on October 27th. The Engineers defeated Boston University, 8-1. Two days later, MIT defeated Northeastern, 7-2.
The Naval Academy traveled to Chicago on October 30th. The Midshipmen had a successful road trip and defeated Northwestern, Chicago, and Western Ontario, each by 9-0 scores. Western Ontario also defeated Northwestern, 9-0.
The Vassar men celebrated Halloween with a shutout victory over Siena.
Drexel hosted Franklin & Marshall and Virginia to open the season. In the men’s matches, Drexel, ranked 10th in the preseason rankings, edged the 9th-ranked Diplomats, 5-4. The Dragons also defeated Virginia, 9-0. The Cavaliers fell 4-5 to F&M to begin the season 0-2. In the women’s matches, Drexel defeated F&M, 5-4, and Virginia, 9-0. F&M was a 6-3 winner against the Cavaliers.
The Haverford men blanked Swarthmore to open the season.
On November 4th, Wellesley defeated Boston College, 8-1. The George Washington men defeated Georgetown by an 8-1 score.
On Friday, MIT earned its third victory of the season over a Boston-area school. This time, the Engineers defeated Boston College, 9-0. MIT followed that match up on Saturday with a victory over Lehigh.
On Saturday, the Vassar women shutout NYU, while the NYU men blanked Vassar. NYU also defeated Bard.
In Buffalo, William Smith defeated Denison and Bucknell.
Navy hosted a number of teams for a round robin this weekend. The Midshipmen marked their 9th 9-0 victory of the season by defeating Fordham, Richmond, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, Haverford, and Washington. At the round robin, the Haverford men edged Fordham, 5-4, and shutout Richmond. Fordhman earned a victory over Washington and lost to Georgetown. The Dickinson men defeated Washington and Richmond, while the Dickinson women defeated Johns Hopkins, 9-0. Johns Hopkins defeated the Haverford women, 6-3.
On Sunday, the Dickinson men travelled to Virginia and lost to George Washington and Virginia. George Washington defeated both Virginia squads. In the men’s match, the Colonials won 7-2, and in the women’s match, George Washington prevailed 6-3.
In club-vs.-club team action, Denison opened the season by defeating Bucknell and Ohio State. Davidson opened the season 2-0 with victories over Duke and UNC. Brandeis travelled to Minnesota and defeated USC, but lost to the host Gophers. The Judges also split two matches with Notre Dame. USC lost to Notre Dame and Minnesota (twice). Minnesota was an 8-1 victor over Notre Dame. Colgate defeated Ithaca, 7-0. Richmond defeated Washington. The Denison women defeated Rochester, 6-3.
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.
