College squash featured a furious weekend of competition as the majority of teams returned to campus from winter break and team training trips.
The Columbia men captured their first-ever victory over No. 2-ranked Harvard on Sunday, winning 5-4 at home. Columbia—currently ranked No. 4—jumped out to an early 4-0 lead, and closed out the match in the second round at the top position when reigning college individual champion Osama Khalifa outlasted Harvard sophomore Saadeldin Abouaish 11-9 in the fifth game. In the women’s match, No. 1-ranked Harvard controlled play against Columbia 9-0, dropping only one individual game in the match.
Saturday’s Ivy league showdown between Yale and Penn played out as close as it appeared it would on paper. In the women’s match, No. 6 Yale upset No. 5 Penn 5-4, the first win for the Yale women over Penn since 2011. The men’s match tilted the opposite way, as No. 5 Penn held off No. 8 Yale 5-4. On Sunday, Yale traveled to Princeton, where the No. 3 Princeton women and No. 7 men both notched 8-1 victories.
On Friday, Middlebury scraped out 5-4 wins against Bates in both the women’s and men’s matches. The men’s win was an important NESCAC league result for No. 19 Middlebury over No. 18 Bates, while the No. 15 Middlebury women barely avoided a major upset at the hands of No. 29 Bates. The Bates men captured a close win of their own 5-4 over No. 21 Williams on Saturday.
In other action over the weekend, the No. 29-ranked Connecticut College men upset No. 26 Hamilton 5-4, and Hamilton held off No. 30 Wesleyan 5-4. On the women’s side, No. 21 St. Lawrence held off an upset bid from No. 26 Bowdoin 5-4.
