After taking a break last weekend to give thanks and get some rest before the final weeks of the first semester, many college squash teams are back in action over the next week, some for the first time this season. Unlike two weekends ago, it is the men’s schedule that features a few juicy match-ups between closely ranked teams.
Right off the bat on Friday evening, the Yale University will play host to Drexel University in a contest between the No. 8- and No. 9-ranked men’s teams in the latest College Squash Team Rankings. No. 5 Rochester kicks off a key three-game stretch of matches on Friday night, with their battle against No. 6 Pennsylvania on Saturday being the marquee match. On their swing through upstate New York, the Quaker men will also meet No. 4 St. Lawrence University, who open the season with two challenging matches at home.
A few sites are acting as college squash hubs this weekend, meaning the highways between New York and Connecticut will be heavy with college squash team travel. Wesleyan University plays host to several matches throughout the weekend, welcoming Bard, Colby, Conn College, Dickinson, Franklin & Marshall, Hobart, and William Smith to Middletown, CT. Columbia will open Ivy League play at home against Cornell on Sunday, including an inviting No. 7-vs.-No. 8 match on the women’s side that has featured several close matches in recent years, and will also play host to Virginia and New York University. Several club teams will participate in round robin play at Fordham University this weekend as well.
Other rankings-adjacent matches scheduled for this weekend include women’s matches between Wesleyan (No. 20) and Franklin & Marshall (No. 21), Vassar (No. 33) and Haverford (No. 34), and Hamilton (No. 22) and St. Lawrence (No. 24) and men’s matches between Williams (No. 21) and Tufts (No. 23) and Wesleyan (No. 31) and Bard (No. 33).
While the weekend is certainly jam-packed with matches, college squash fans will get some bonus squash during the week next week with some regional matches on the docket. Brown plays at Yale and Dartmouth heads to Harvard to open all their Ivy League slates, but it is a local Boston-based rivalry that takes top billing midweek. With a big win over Colby two weeks ago, the Tufts University men jumped up to No. 23 in the rankings, right behind their opponent on Wednesday, No. 22 MIT. Additionally, instead of traveling to Philadelphia for a traditional Ivy League match-up, Princeton will visit Drexel instead next week.
View the full college schedules here:
College Squash Women’s Schedule
College Squash Men’s Schedule
Live Scoring will be available for many matches during the weekend on Club Locker.
Please also follow the CSA on Twitter (@CollegeSquash) and Instagram (@college_squash) for social media updates throughout the weekend.
