College squash fans will hope they got enough rest over the holidays because the heart of the season is here and the road to the championships is filled with mouthwatering match-ups. This weekend is just one example, with rivalry contests filling all three days.

Prominent on the schedule is the annual Pioneer Valley Invitational, hosted by Amherst College and Mount Holyoke College. Several closely-ranked teams make the trek to western Massachusetts, some to protect their standing and others to make their mark.

One of those programs eager to hold their ground is Connecticut College. In particular, the No. 24-ranked women’s program faces key tests in their bid to capture a Walker (C) Division berth as a Top-24 team. Wins against No. 26 Mount Holyoke and No. 27 William Smith, not to mention a strong performance against No. 20 Wesleyan, could solidify their case. The No. 27 Conn College men have a test of their own when they meet No. 28 Wesleyan later this afternoon.

Pioneer Valley participants Hamilton and Haverford also aim to clinch important victories over the weekend. The Hamilton-Wesleyan men’s match should be a close encounter on Saturday evening between the 28th- and 29th-ranked teams. Just prior to that, Haverford meets Hobart and William Smith Colleges in match-ups with Top-30 placement on the line.

Earlier this week, Yale hosted Trinity in a huge cross-state battle, with the No. 4 Yale women surprising previously-unbeaten No. 2 Trinity, 5-4. That results brightens the spotlight even further on the Stanford women’s third and final regular season trip out east. This weekend, the 5th-ranked Cardinal have to overcome No. 14 George Washington on Friday before the gauntlet of Yale on Saturday and Trinity on Sunday. So many top-10 women’s matches have finished with 5-4 scorelines this season that it would almost be a shock if the matches this weekend didn’t finish with that result.

On the men’s side, two Ivy League peers face stiff tests on their home courts. Newly minted No. 9 Dartmouth hosts three matches over the weekend, looking to carry over the momentum from their upset triumph of George Washington last weekend. No. 5 Drexel and No. 6 Rochester both have better rankings, but beating Dartmouth at home is always a tough ask. Meantime, No. 14 Cornell welcomes No. 13 Franklin & Marshall to Ithaca in their own bid to jump at least a place in the next set of rankings.

Fans will need to stay tuned all the way through Sunday afternoon with two big match-ups looming down south. Virginia welcomes Columbia to Charlottesville for what should be two hotly-contested matches. The Virginia men and the Columbia women are the higher ranked squads by a few places each, but don’t rule out an upset on either side in this one.

And, as if the weekend schedule wasn’t enticing enough, this coming Wednesday features a few great local rivalries, including Princeton versus Penn and Bowdoin at Colby.

The order of play for the week from January 23 to January 29 is:

• 3-court system:  3,2,1 / 6,5,4 / 8,7,9
• 5-court system:  1,2 / 4,3 / 5,6 / 8,7 / 10,9

View the full college schedules, as well as live results, here:
College Squash Women’s Schedule
College Squash Men’s Schedule

Please also follow the CSA on Twitter (@CollegeSquash) and Instagram (@college_squash) for social media updates throughout the weekend.

More than any other weekend so far during the 2019-2020 college squash season, this weekend features close match-ups that will impact seeding at the end of the year. Up and down the rankings lists, on both the men’s and the women’s side, there are intriguing matches worth tuning into this weekend.

Matches relevant for the men’s rankings highlight this evening’s events. No. 20 Williams, who has already knocked off No. 19 Middlebury, welcomes No. 18 Navy to northwestern Massachusetts. In battles over Conroy Cup positioning, No. 27 Conn College hosts No. 29 Hamilton and No. 30 Haverford welcomes No. 28 Wesleyan. In the classic border rivalry, No. 13 Western Ontario will take aim at another Top-8 opponent at No. 7 Rochester.

Close women’s matches enter the picture on Saturday and Sunday, including critical matches for teams looking to clinch a Howe Cup spot.  The No. 9 Cornell women face the toughest road when they meet No. 6 Stanford, No. 10 Virginia, and No. 5 Drexel on consecutive days. Stanford also faces No. 1 Harvard and No. 8 Columbia, who is coming off a historic upset victory over Yale last weekend.

Additional intriguing women’s matches include No. 16 Amherst vs. No. 17 Bates at The Heights Casino in Brooklyn, No. 19 Tufts visiting No. 20 Dickinson, and No. 28 Hamilton meeting No. 29 Haverford at Fordham.

All of those tight matches are listed, and we have not even mentioned perhaps the biggest men’s match to date this season: No. 2 Trinity hosting No. 3 Penn in Hartford on Saturday. The Bantams have shown they are for real, handling several tests over the last two weeks (including two wins this week against rivals Rochester and Columbia), but the Quakers will want to make their mark after suffering an 8-1 defeat to No. 1 Harvard last weekend. Look for this one to go down to the wire.

Not to be outdone, there are two other Top-12 men’s matches on the schedule for Sunday. No. 6 Rochester hosts No. 7 Yale in another big match-up of historic rivals, while No. 9 George Washington meets No. 11 Dartmouth with Williams playing host.

The next set of rankings could look significantly different after this weekend’s events. If fans were waiting for the season to kick into high gear before finding a match to attend, now is their time.

The order of play for the week from January 16 to January 22 is:

• 3-court system:  3,1,2 / 4,5,6 / 7,9,8
• 5-court system:  1,2 / 3,4 / 6,5 / 7,8 / 10,9

View the full college schedules, as well as live results, here:
College Squash Women’s Schedule
College Squash Men’s Schedule

Please also follow the CSA on Twitter (@CollegeSquash) and Instagram (@college_squash) for social media updates throughout the weekend.

College squash matches over the last week since the new year started have been relatively one-sided affairs, with the closest matches being three 7-2 contests. One of those was the only upset of the week: the No. 20 Williams men took down conference foe No. 19 Middlebury at home.

There should be some much closer matches on display starting this weekend, however. More teams are back in action for the first time in 2020 with several intriguing contests lined up.

The first weekend doubleheaders of Ivy League play take place this weekend with the spotlight on the defending champions.  Harvard welcomes Penn and Princeton to Cambridge, with all four visiting programs eager to make their mark. The Penn men are currently ranked 3rd and gave the Crimson its toughest match on their way to the title last season; the Princeton women also have the 3rd ranking and will be looking to make a statement; and the 4th-ranked Princeton men have been resurgent this season with a deep squad ready to compete with the champs.

Other busy locales of play this weekend will be in Maine and in the Mid-Atlantic region. Bates, Bowdoin, and Colby Colleges are all home for the weekend, with Conn College, MIT, Mount Holyoke, Wesleyan, and Williams visiting in various combinations of matches.

Meantime, farther south, Dickinson and Franklin & Marshall play host to a bevy of matches involving Chatham, Hamilton, St. Lawrence, and Western Ontario. St. Lawrence and Western travel even farther south for contests on Sunday with George Washington and Virginia, respectively. Additionally, Middlebury is on the road at Navy, George Washington, and Drexel over three straight days. The results of many of these matches will significantly affect the final positioning of teams later in the season, particularly on the men’s side in the Hoehn (B) Division.

As if the weekend slate isn’t enticing enough, there is a higher-than-normal number of mid-week matches scheduled for next week. The Trinity-Rochester match-up on Tuesday the 14th could be another in a long line of monumental contests. Brown and Virginia produced an instant classic at last year’s National Women’s Team Championships and will renew their rivalry next week. Amherst at Middlebury, Tufts at Bates, and Brown at Navy all have potential for intriguing results.

The order of play for the week from January 9 to January 15 is:

• 3-court system:  2,1,3 / 5,6,4 / 8,7,9
• 5-court system:  1,2 / 4,3 / 6,5 / 7,8 / 10,9

View the full college schedules, as well as live results, here:
College Squash Women’s Schedule
College Squash Men’s Schedule

Please also follow the CSA on Twitter (@CollegeSquash) and Instagram (@college_squash) for social media updates throughout the weekend.

Now that the calendar has turned over to 2020, CSA student-athletes are gradually arriving back on campus in preparation for the second part of the season. The road to the 2020 championships starts over the course of the coming week with a limited slate of matches.

The second-ranked Trinity teams headline the enticing set of contests with their roadtrip south to face a trio of Mid-Atlantic Squash Conference challengers.  The Bantam men face No. 9 George Washington, No. 18 Navy, and No. 5 Drexel on three successive days next week, while the women face No. 15 George Washington and No. 5 Drexel.

The Williams squads jump right into action after the holiday break by hosting the only matches scheduled for the weekend.  First, Dartmouth and then NESCAC rival Middlebury visit northwest Massachusetts on back-to-back days.

Stanford’s teams play their only home matches of the season, welcoming Tufts, who make the cross-country trip for a match on Wednesday, the 8th. Additional matches include the Yale women hosting Amherst and Mount Holyoke, MIT traveling to Bowdoin, and George Washington hosting Vassar next Thursday.

The order of play for this week is:

• 3-court system:  1,2,3 / 4,6,5 / 9,8,7
• 5-court system:  1,2 / 3,4 / 6,5 / 8,7 / 10,9

View the full college schedules, as well as live results, here:
College Squash Women’s Schedule
College Squash Men’s Schedule

Please also follow the CSA on Twitter (@CollegeSquash) and Instagram (@college_squash) for social media updates throughout the weekend.

The year 2020 will mark the 100^th year of intercollegiate squash competition in the United States. This monumental anniversary arrives at just the right time, with the newly relaunched College Squash Association (CSA) poised to fortify the college game and lead it into a second century.

The restructured CSA has an independent board of directors and a full-time Executive Director. This leadership structure is now dedicated to creating and enforcing new regulations concerning eligibility, amateurism, and recruiting, as well as to fostering the spirit of fair play and sportsmanship.

In order to maintain this exciting momentum, however, the CSA needs assistance from interested supporters of squash. The CSA is pleased to introduce the Founding Partners Campaign, a coordinated effort to secure the near-term future of the organization. Contributions to the Campaign from donors and sponsors will help enrich the student-athlete experience and retain the Executive Director, whose focus is emphasizing fairness and consistency in college squash and expanding the opportunities to play competitive squash on college campuses.

“We are so excited to embark on the Founding Partners Campaign during the 100^th year of college squash,” says John Nimick, Chair of the CSA Board of Directors. “Both domestic and international interest around the college game is at an all-time high, and we are asking for our supporters to invest in the continued growth and development of the best team-based version of the sport in the world.”

The Founding Partners Campaign offers individuals, families, and companies the opportunity to align with the passion of college squash, to enhance players’ experiences, and to amplify the vibrancy of varsity competition. Donations of all sizes are welcome, but those made with a four-year commitment at predetermined levels are eligible to be aligned with one or more of the CSA’s premier assets.

“We are so grateful for the first example of a campaign pledge and the impact it can have,” says David Poolman, Executive Director and League Commissioner of the CSA. “The Schiller Family welcomed the opportunity to present the Skillman Award in honor of their father, Sheldon Schiller, a fantastic sportsman and player. The Schillers’ support exemplifies the meaningful connection families have with college squash and how important it is to secure the future of our game.”

Founding Partners who commit to contribute to the Campaign for at least a four-year term will be featured on the CSA website for the duration of their commitment. Their initial support will also be memorialized elsewhere on the website and in CSA collaterals in perpetuity.

Please consider donating to help kick off the CSA Founding Partners Campaign. All general inquiries, as well as requests for more details about specific gifts and sponsorship opportunities, should be directed to admin@csasquash.com. General contributions can be made using this link – DONATE TO COLLEGE SQUASH ASSOCIATION – or via check made payable to Intercollegiate Squash Association, Inc.