Following a season-opening win over M.I.T., the men’s squash team ran into trouble against a string of top opponents and is currently saddled with an eight-match losing streak. Wesleyan ended 2008 with three matches in the Wesleyan Round Robin, falling to Georgetown University 5-4 and George Washington University 6-3 before a 9-0 sweep at the hands of Northeastern University.

Following the two-day Snowflake Tournament at Dartmouth College, the team traveled to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, for a weeklong stay. The Cardinals returned to the U.S. on January 14th and resumed action two days later in the Wesleyan/Yale Round Robin. Facing three of the top teams in the NESCAC—Hamilton, Bates and Middlebury—as well as St. Lawrence University, the Cardinals fell 9-0 in each of their four home matches over the weekend. Seven Cardinals won at least one game against Middlebury, with Robert Broadfoot ’10 dropping a close 3-2 decision at the top spot. Broadfoot, Lonnie Gibbs ’10, and Nate Fowles ’10 each took at least a game against Hamilton, with Gibbs falling 3-2 at #5. Broadfoot and Tyler Snell ’09 each won a game against St. Lawrence, while Bates swept all 27 games.

The Cardinals traveled to Yale to take on Colby last Friday. Gibbs pulled out a 3-2 win at #5, and Fowles nearly did the same, falling 3-2 at #6. However, no other Cardinal won more than one game as the Mules emerged with an 8-1 victory, avenging a 6-3 loss to Wesleyan in the teams’ previous meeting.

The Cardinals are seeded 11th in the upcoming NESCAC Championship, which begins Friday at Trinity College. Wesleyan will take on sixth-seeded Middlebury and will face third-seeded Bates if it beats Middlebury. If the Cardinals fall, they will return home on Saturday to face the loser of Friday’s match between ninth-seeded Colby and eighth-seeded Tufts.