After a disappointing showing at the NESCAC championships at Trinity, the Wesleyan men’s squash team entered the Vassar Team Challenge competition looking for a shot at redemption. They got exactly what they were hoping for on Saturday, Feb. 12, as they performed in flawless fashion at Vassar. The men played Columbia University and host Vassar that day, coming away with two victories for a perfect record on the day. After losing to the Lions in a close 5-4 match earlier this year, defeating Columbia was especially satisfying for the Cardinals.

The games against Columbia and Vassar could not have been more different. The Columbia game was as tight as they come (a 5-4 victory in which three of the losses were tight 2-3 drops), whereas the game against the hosts was never close, as Wesleyan manhandled the Brewers, dropping only two individual games in the entire match. Wesleyan’s success on the day started from the highest ranks, as four of the top five players (co-captain Matt Candal ’11, John Steele ’14, Alex Nunez ’14, and Zander Nassikas ’14) won two matches on the day, helping the team to stay undefeated in the Challenge. This Friday, the men will travel to the National Team Tournament, where they hope to build off of their recent successes.

The women’s team fared only slightly worse, as they also beat hosts Vassar in a convincing fashion (7-2), but were unsuccessful against Columbia, who turned the tables in beating the Cards 7-2. Tanesha Jackson ’13 and Kar-Anne Tan ’14 both recorded victories in the loss to Columbia, as well as the victory against Vassar, making them the only undefeated Wesleyan women on the day.

The women were also in action this past weekend, as they traveled to Princeton, N.J. to compete in the Howe Cup. They happened to draw Vassar again, but the Brewers were unable to improve their performance, and Wes came away with an 8-1 win. They then had to play two tough NESCAC opponents over the next two days, managing to go 1-1 against Bowdoin and Hamilton with scores of 5-4 and 3-6, respectively.  Jackson continued her impressive play from the number four spot, as she won all of her matches, bringing her record up to 6-0 in her last six matches.  The second and fifth players, Diana Edwards ’14 and Danielle Craig ’13, also won all of their matches this weekend, joining Jackson as the only undefeated Wesleyan players on the weekend, and the only players to record victories against Hamilton. Due to their strong performances, the women took third place in the “C” division of the Howe cup.  Now the women will wait until the final competition of their season, which will be the National Individual Tournament at Dartmouth in March.