Hatfield, MA — Despite the snow blanketing much of the east coast, college squash was in full swing this week.
The week began with St. Lawrence visiting Harvard. The Crimson women shutout their guests, 9-0. In the men’s match, the Saints earned a 5-4 victory over higher-ranked Harvard.
In a showdown of Connecticut powers on Wednesday, Yale hosted Trinity. Trinity made themselves very comfortable in New Haven and captured both the men’s and women’s matches, 8-1.
Farther down in Connecticut, Conn College hosted Wellesley. The Camels came up just short, dropping a 4-5 match to Wellesley.
With snow covering the Mid Atlantic states, the following varsity teams had matches cancelled or postponed for Friday – Sunday: Amherst, Bates, Colby, Columbia, Conn College, Dickinson, Drexel, Franklin & Marshall, George Washington, Haverford, Tufts (men), and Vassar.
On Friday, William Smith visited Mount Holyoke. The Herons defeated Mount Holyoke, 6-3. Farther east in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, MIT shutout both Boston College and Boston University.
Beginning on Friday, Wesleyan hosted a number of teams. The Cardinals faced Bowdoin in the opening match in Middletown, CT. The Wesleyan men defeated the Polar Bears, 5-4, while the Bowdoin women defeated Wesleyan, 6-3. The Bowdoin men started their second match of the evening at close to 8:30 PM. With the teams tied at 4-4, Bowdoin pulled out a five-game victory at the #4 position, to clinch the match, 5-4, and send both teams back to their hotels at 11:20 PM!
Harvard welcomed Rochester to the Murr Center on Saturday. The 5th-ranked Yellowjackets were down 1-4 after five matches, but they battled back to even the match. Rochester won the final match to hand Harvard their second consecutive 5-4 loss.
Also in Boston, MIT continued their winning ways. The Engineers defeated Northeastern and Northwestern.
Mount Holyoke concluded their home schedule with a loss to Tufts, 3-6. Tufts, the 26th-ranked team, also edged 24th-ranked William Smith, 5-4. Wellesley defeated both William Smith and Smith. William Smith also defeated Smith.
St. Lawrence hosted Cornell. The Saints and the Big Red traded matches. St. Lawrence captured the men’s match, 8-1, while the Cornell won the women’s match, 9-0.
The Wesleyan men went 2-0 on Saturday. They defeated Hobart, 6-3, and Hamilton, 8-1. The Hamilton women defeated Wesleyan, 8-1, but lost to Bowdoin, 3-6. The Bowdoin men also defeated Hamilton 8-1.
Middlebury travelled to Williamstown to face NESCAC rival Williams. The Panthers and the Ephs traded matches. In the women’s match, Williams won, 7-2, while in the men’s match, Middlebury prevailed, 7-2.
Trinity hosted Penn in a noontime match. The top-ranked Bantam men were 8-1 victors. In the women’s match, Trinity was ahead 2-1 after the first wave of matches, but the Quakers pulled ahead 4-2 after the second wave. In the final three matches, which included a injury retirement for Penn’s #1 after the second game, the Quakers escaped with a 5-4 victory. Later in the afternoon, the Trinity men also earned an 8-1 victory over Hobart.
On Sunday, Bowdoin hosted and lost to both Brown squads, 0-9.
Trinity hosted Rochester. Tied at 4-4, the match came down to the 5th game between the #1 players. Trinity captured the final game, 11-9, and the match to defend their home courts.
In club-vs.-club men’s team action, Minnesota defeated Oregon, 7-2, and Cal, 8-1; Washington defeated USC, 7-2; and Notre Dame, 8-1. The Northwestern women defeated Minnesota, and Colgate defeated Smith.
Coaches and Team Contacts, please remember to enter your team’s results in the US Squash Scoring System on the day of each match. Each player must be named in the results (“Not on Roster” entries will not be tolerated) or penalties may be applied.
Schools are reminded that to qualify for the National Team Championships, a minimum number of matches must be played at specific periods of the season:
- Varsity teams are required to play ten (10) matches against other CSA teams to enter team championships. At minimum, each team should have at least 6 different opponents. Varsity teams should play the majority of their matches against other varsity schools.
- Club teams are required to play eight (8) matches against other CSA teams to enter team championships. In addition, club teams must play at least four (4) matches between January 1st and February 10th. At minimum, each team should have at least five (5) different opponents.
For a regular season match to officially count for ranking purposes, each team must have at least seven players. Except for Emerging Teams, matches with less than seven players per team will not count towards the required number of matches for entry into the National Team Championships.
For complete results from all of this weekend’s action, see Women’s Results and Men’s Results.
Cayman Islands — Our team was casually having dinner at “Stingers,” a poolside restaurant that was conveniently footsteps away from our hotel. “Cheers to making it this far, Cheers to our senior season,” my teammate, Joey Gingold said to me as we clinked our plastic ribbed water cups and exchanged smiles with the rest of the group sitting at our table.
