Weekend Recap 11/20/2018: Undefeated Penn Women, Navy Men Impress

The final weekend before the Thanksgiving break featured many teams playing their first matches of the season and a few early season clashes between teams ranked closely together.  It was two teams who had already played matches earlier this season that stole the headlines, however.

The University of Pennsylvania women’s team entered the weekend with a gauntlet of matches ahead of them.  The No. 6-ranked team got their momentum going early with a tight upset victory over No. 4 Stanford on Friday evening. Building on that result, Penn handled No. 14 George Washington 7-2 and squeaked by No. 12 Virginia 5-4 to bring their overall record so far to 5-0.  The Quakers have won three of their last four matches by 5-4 scores with their top five players amassing a 19-1 record over that time.

After hosting round robin competitions on back-to-back weekends, the Navy men’s team emerged unscathed with an impressive 10-0 record to start the year.  The top victories for the No. 16 Midshipmen so far have been 5-4 upset victories over Virginia and Western Ontario followed by a pair of 7-2 triumphs over MIT and Dickinson this past weekend.  The Thanksgiving holiday provides a much-needed break for Navy before they put their undefeated record to the test against Middlebury and Dartmouth in two weeks.

In other results, Bates and Dickinson split their matches, both in upset fashion: The Dickinson women edged Bates 5-4, but the Bates men returned the favor by the same scoreline.  In the other match with potential Howe Cup implications, the No. 3 Princeton women cruised to victory over No. 4 Stanford, 7-2.  On the men’s side, No. 27 Tufts men posted their own surprising result with the 5-4 win over No. 23 Colby, and No. 30 Conn College earned a nice early season upset with a 9-0 win versus No. 29 Hamilton.

Among many other matches of note, the Princeton men’s team’s matches will be memorable as the season progresses.  While the No. 8 Tigers won an important victory against No. 9 George Washington on Sunday, it was the location of their match with top-ranked Trinity that stood out. As part of the festivities celebrating 100 years of squash at the University Club of New York, the club agreed to host the Trinity-Princeton intercollegiate match in their storied building. Even more impressive, the top three positions played their matches on the all-glass Oracle NetSuite SuiteSuccess Court in the Club’s historic Reading Room.  The one-of-a-kind event provided a great experience for all involved and resulted in a 6-3 victory for the Trinity Bantams.

Full list of results: Men and Women.