Both the men’s and women’s squash teams had an impressive opening weekend—they each handily beat two opponents while falling to one. The men defeated M.I.T. (9-0) and Northeastern (8-1) and faced a hard loss to rival Bates (1-8). The women had a similar experience; their score against Northeastern was identical (9-0) and they lost to Bates as well in similar, if not worse fashion (0-9). The women also fared well against Wellesley (9-0). The weekend’s results were not surprising as both squads beat the teams ranked below them and lost to Bates, who in both cases was the projected winner.

The men were led by freshman number one John Steele, who was the only three contest winner on the squad, notching a 3-2 victory over the Bates number one. Alex Nunez ’14, the team number seven, won a 3-1 decision against both his Northeastern and M.I.T. opponents.

“We came into the weekend with a real ‘Get It’ mentality, and beat the teams we were supposed to beat,” said Nunez. “We also played a top-15 ranked team in Bates—and played them really tough.”

The men’s squad must now look forward to next weekend, when they will play five home games with some added swagger.

“I think we are as prepared as we can be this early in the season,” said Alexander Nassikas ’14.  “We cannot wait to go 5-0 on the weekend, and provide some home court wins for our fans.”

Nassikas and Nunez are represent a younger-trending Wesleyan roster, which boasts six freshmen amongst the top nine. While many teams might see having this many freshman starting as a sign of inexperience, Wesleyan will let the results speak for themselves, and as long as the wins continue to pile up, it is unlikely anyone will call this bunch inexperienced.

The women’s team also boasts a younger team core as numbers 1-4 are all underclassmen, and four of the nine starters are frosh. The women have six matches this weekend and are looking forward to the challenge. With three NESCAC rivals in the weekend lineup, it will be pivotal for the women to establish their standing in the league and come out of the gate early, which they proved they are capable of last weekend. Overall, it looks like this will be a great season for Wesleyan squash, and with so much new talent on the courts for the Redbirds, it may well be the start of a NESCAC championship dynasty. You never know.