As expected, the Friday evening matches got the weekend started with bang, and the action continued throughout Saturday and Sunday. Several teams outperformed their rankings and staked early claims on new program bests.
The Drexel Dragons were one of several programs to make headlines this weekend. On Friday, the No. 8 women welcomed No. 4 Stanford, who had just survived a grueling 5-4 battle across town at No. 7 Penn. Stanford jumped out to an early lead, but the Dragon women gradually crawled back into it. With the score knotted at 4-4, Drexel freshman Karina Tyma outlasted Stanford’s Elena Wagenmans in the Number 1 match in five games to clinch the victory.
With no rest for the weary, Drexel welcomed Columbia’s higher-ranked teams on Saturday. Looking to carry over momentum from the night before, both Drexel teams came to play. The No. 11 men handled a depleted No. 7 Columbia squad with relative ease, but the women were locked in another close match with the No. 6 Lion women. This time it was Drexel’s number 4 player, Brooke Herring, who took home the match-clinching five-game victory.
For those keeping score at home, that’s four 5-4 matches between the current No. 4, 6, 7, and 8-ranked women’s teams. No. 3 Princeton women did confirm their standing as a cut above with hard-won victories against Virginia, Stanford, and Drexel this weekend.
Adding to the intrigue on the women’s side were No. 19 Franklin & Marshall and No. 28 Bowdoin. Each team won upset victories in critical early-season contests, against No. 17 Tufts and No. 23 Hamilton, respectively.
The men’s schedule had its fair share of action over the weekend as well, again with an impressive start on Friday evening. No. 17 MIT made the long trip down to Annapolis to take on No. 16 Navy in a Mid-Atlantic Squash Conference contest, with the winner having an inside track to a Hoehn (B) Division berth at the end of the season. The visiting Engineers emerged victorious this time in a close 6-3 contest that could see a repeat match-up in the end-of-season MASC Championships.
Speaking of MASC representatives, George Washington had a busy weekend as well, welcoming Penn’s teams to DC before trekking up to New York City to take on Columbia. GW’s lone victory of the weekend was a big one, with the No. 9 Colonial men upsetting No. 7 Columbia 5-4 on the road.
Staying with the “upsets in NYC” theme, Fordham’s round robin featured its few of its own. In particular, New York University upset the hosts in a tight 5-4 match and also took out previously unbeaten Washington University of St. Louis.
The CSA schedules take a well-deserved hiatus during the Thanksgiving holiday, and teams will return for one more week of action before finals and the mid-year holiday break.
Full results from the weekend, as well as upcoming matches, can be found here: Women and Men.
