Both the men’s and women’s squash teams packed up for the road this past weekend, and both came away with a victory and a defeat. The men traveled to Trinity, where they lost to Brown but defeated the Mules of Colby. The women’s squad visited Connecticut College, taking down the host Camels while losing to the Jumbos from Tufts. The women also traveled to Smith on Wednesday night, but lost by one point.
The men’s team defeated Colby 7-2, but lost to Brown by the same count. After the weekend split, the Cardinals’ season record now stands at 6-8. Despite the defeat to Brown, the men take away a big positive in defeating Colby.
“The men had their most important victory of the season, with a 7-2 victory over Colby,” said coach David Cukierman. “This moves them up one position in C division, and will ensure Wesleyan will get the important third seeding heading into the National Championships.”
Playing at the eighth and ninth spots, Umay Suanda ’05 and Phil Wallach ’05 were the only two team members credited with victories against both opponents.
“We expected a really close match against Colby, who is basically our traditional rival, but we outclassed them at nearly every spot to win the match convincingly, 7-2,” Wallach said. “Our team is deeper now than it has ever been in the last few years, and we are collectively pushing each other to play at a higher level.”
Other Cardinals victorious against their Colby opponents include Captain Benson Gillispie ’04, Andy Aylward ’07, Dylan Rau ’07, James Utterback ’04, and Omair Sarwar ’06.
After dropping their first competition on Saturday to Tufts by a mark of 7-2, the women bounced back to take out host Connecticut College in a close 5-4 victory. Coach Cukierman, who coaches both men’s and women’s, realized the importance of the victory.
“It was a vital win against the higher ranked Camels, and an important result right before the final rankings are released before Howe Cup, the women’s national inter-collegiate championships,” Cukierman said.
Playing against Tufts’ captain, Dina Guth ’04 won in the second spot and Sarah Hopkins ’06 was victorious in the fourth position. The two also accounted for individual victories in the team’s defeat of the Camels. Other successful Cardinals from Saturday include captain Sa Suwanarat ’04, Brigid Dwyer ’05 and Rachel Epstein ’04.
Wednesday night the women’s team took on Smith in a rematch of Smith’s 6-3 victory at the Smith/Mount Holyoke Invitational in January. The Cardinals again could not handle the Smith squad, as they fell 5-4, losing the top five matches. The four Cardinal winners were Alyssa Frankel ’04, Shani Pavel ’05, Mary Livingston ’04, and Epstein, playing the sixth through ninth spots respectively.
The women’s team record now stands at 3-12 with the three wins acquired in their last five matches. This weekend the women head to Williams to battle for the Little Three title.
The men will join the women at Williams on Saturday, fighting to win the Little Three as well. Before that, the squad battled the Camels of Connecticut College on the road Thursday night. The teams’ recent success bodes well for a strong finish as the post-season quickly approaches.