The 2022 CSA National Collegiate Men’s Team Squash Championships kicked off on Friday at University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Squash Center and the Arlen Specter US Squash Center in Philadelphia. Four divisions featuring a total of 33 teams began play with matches set to continue through the weekend.
In an action-packed first day, two divisions featured upsets to the seeding while the other two brackets played out according to the rankings. The Road to the National Championship literally goes through top-seeded Penn after a comfortable win today, but Yale, Harvard, and Columbia stand in their way after their own quarterfinal wins.
The road to the national championship began on Friday with four quarterfinal matches in the Potter Division. 6-seed Columbia clinched the upset of the day with a razor thin 5-4 victory over a COVID-impacted yet feisty Trinity team, the No. 3 seed. Columbia won the final two matches of the contest at #9 and #1 to secure the victory. Columbia will meet No. 2 Harvard in the semifinals tomorrow after the Crimson dispatch seventh seeded Virginia, 7-2.
In the other Saturday semifinal, No. 4 Yale will challenge tournament hosts and top seed Penn. Yale overcame a tough challenge from a shorthanded Princeton squad in a close 6-3 match, while Penn got the start that they needed in their quest to fulfill their seed with a definitive 9-0 win over Drexel.
The results in the Hoehn Cup stayed true to the seeding with the top four teams moving on to Saturday morning’s semifinals. The division’s top seed, Cornell, made relatively quick work of 8-seed Franklin & Marshall with a clear 9-0 victory. Not to be outdone, Dartmouth handled their first round opponent, Chatham, posting their own 9-0 win to set up a “Big” Red-versus-Green Ivy League semifinal battle.
On the other side of the bracket, there will be a battle of the border for the other semifinal. Second seeded Rochester took down the seventh seed, MIT, only relinquishing two matches in the 7-2 victory. Similar to the Potter Cup, the closest match of the division was the 3-versus-6 matchup between Western University (Ontario) and Williams College. Williams put a scare into Western, jumping out to a 4-1 lead, but Western clawed their way back to win the final four matches of the contest.
The division with closest matches on the day was the Summers Cup with two upsets according the seeding and a 5-4 barnburner. Seventh seed Navy has peaked at the right time, having taken down two higher ranked opponents at the end of the regular season and scoring the upset today over 2-seed Brown. Navy will meet Amherst in the next round after the 3-seed narrowly escaped an upset loss of their own. In a repeat performance of their 5-4 classic from November, Amherst clipped Dickinson 5-4 again, relying on a 17-15 fifth-game win in the No. 3 position.
Summers top seed St. Lawrence handled their business against Middlebury with a 7-2 victory, and they will face a deep Tufts squad, which is trying to regain its midseason form. They are well on their way after a crucial 6-3 victory over conference rivals Bates. Both winners matched their regular season results against their first round opponents.
With nine teams making up the Conroy Division, the teams were broken up into three groups of three for initial round robin play. The top seeds in each group – Colby, Hobart, and Hamilton – emerged with perfect 2-0 records and will meet each other new round robin play over the next two days. Hamilton, the 3-seed, had the closest challenge of the day against NESCAC rival and fourth seeded Wesleyan, but Hamilton emerged with the 6-3 win.
Wesleyan, Haverford, and Conn College earned berths in the 4th-6th playoff after going 1-1 on the day. Those three teams all met during the regular season with Wesleyan favored to prevail on Sunday. The remaining group for round robin play includes Denison, Vassar, and Fordham.
Additional Photos:
Additional photographs from today’s action will soon be viewable on the following websites:
- Matches at Penn: Michael T. Bello
- Matches at Arlen Specter Center: Sofija Singer
