Over the weekend, the men’s and women’s squash teams combined for 31 individual match wins at the Vassar Team Challenge, the highest total of the combined four-team tournament. The teams combined to go 3-3 overall at the tournament—the men defeated host-team Vassar and Columbia but fell to Connecticut College, while the women took down the Camels but fell to Vassar and Columbia. These wins allowed the Cardinals to end the week on a high note after both teams dropped a pair of Little Three matches on Saturday.

The men, who now stand at 4-13 on the season, earned an 8-1 victory over Vassar on Saturday evening in their opening match of the Challenge. The Cardinals’ top eight all swept their matches, with Robert Broadfoot ’10 leading the way with a 9-0, 9-1, 9-2 sweep at the top spot. Vassar has not defeated Wesleyan since taking a 6-3 decision during the 1997-98 season.

The Cardinals then took on Conn. College and Columbia on Sunday. NESCAC foe Connecticut College—which Wesleyan had defeated 5-4 in the consolation bracket of the NESCAC Championship—turned the tables with a 6-3 victory. Six of the nine individual matches ended with 3-0 scores, with the Camels taking two of those four matches. Wesleyan also suffered a pair of 3-2 losses at the eighth and ninth spots. The Cardinals rebounded, however, with an 8-1 win over Columbia later in the day. Wesleyan swept the 1-7 matches, and Sam Plapinger ’12 had a 3-1 win at the number-eight spot.

The women’s squash team competed against the same three opponents, going 1-2 in the Challenge. Against the host Brewers, the Cardinals rolled to victories at the seventh (Caroline Fox ’12, 3-0), eighth (Katie Kalafus ’09, 3-1), and ninth (Rachael Ghorbani ’09, 3-1) spots, but those were the Redbirds’ only wins on the evening as Vassar took a 6-3 decision. Wesleyan rebounded, however, with its second straight 7-2 victory over Connecticut College on Sunday. The Cards lost both matches at the top two spots by 3-0 scores, but Liz Demakos ’09 pulled out a 3-2 win at the third spot and the remaining six Cardinals swept their matches. Wesleyan ended the weekend with a 7-2 loss to Columbia. Andrea Guiliano ’09 and Ashley Garrett ’12 both scored 3-1 wins at the number-four and number-nine spots, respectively. The team now sits at 11-13 on the year.

Wesleyan’s .500 record in the Challenge showed the Cardinals’ balance up and down the ladder, as the Cards’ 31 individual victories put them well ahead of Conn. College (28), Columbia (26) and Vassar (23), and sent them back to Middletown with the tournament title. The first-place finish also came on the heels of a pair of 0-2 finishes in the Saturday’s Little Three meets.

The men had a rocky start to the weekend as both Amherst and Williams rolled to 9-0 victories. Against Amherst, Dale Kobrin ’11 was the only Wesleyan player to extend his match to four games, as he fell 3-1 at the number-three spot. The Ephs swept all nine individual matches against the hosts.

The women fared slightly better, winning two matches against Amherst but falling to Williams by a 9-0 score. The previous weekend, Wesleyan had its closest match against Amherst in ten years in the NESCAC Championship, falling to the Lord Jeffs in a first-round match, 6-3. In Saturday’s match, seven of the nine individual matches ended in three games, with Demakos and Ghorbani picking up a pair of 3-0 wins at the third and ninth spots, respectively. Williams swept eight of the nine matches in its victory—with Kalafus, at the seventh spot, extending her match to four games.

Both teams will be in action again this weekend. The men host M.I.T. Saturday evening and Penn State Sunday morning, while the women will participate in the annual Howe Cup, which will take place at Harvard from Feb. 13-15. Wesleyan’s opponents in the Howe Cup have not yet been announced.