While the rest of us were stuffing our faces with delicious gourds, Wesleyan’s squash squads were mashing potatoes and stuffing turkeys on the courts. Both the men’s and women’s squads notched a number of impressive victories to keep up their hot starts.

The men’s squad came home from the Boston Round Robin on Nov. 23 hosted by Harvard with a pair of victories in tow. First on the schedule, the Birds squared up against a side from Boston College, tearing apart the lowly Eagles squad with their first 9-0 victory of the day.

The very same day, the Cards took on a squad from MIT to wrap up their pre-holiday affairs. Without breaking a sweat, the same starting nine took the courts for the Cards, and this time the Cardinals notched 3-0 victories in all of their matches. The team sported a pair of newcomers in the starting nine for Saturday’s affairs, as Alex Kamisher ’17 and Chris Hart ’17 each notched their first ever pair of collegiate victories at the number seven and  number nine spots, respectively.

In their most highly-anticipated matchup of the early season, the Cards returned home to host a powerful Navy squad ranked 15th in the nation. Despite their steadfast preparation, the Cardinals were only able to muster a pair of victories, and fell prey to Navy’s powerful play, 7-2. The Cardinals were redeemed by the play of their number eight and  number nine guys, as Raheem Logan ’16 and Hart each picked up victories.

Logan battled to a 2-1 advantage in his first three sets before outclassing his Navy opponent 11-5 in the victory-clinching final game. Despite pulling off a 3-0 win, all of Hart’s matches went down to the wire as he outscored his opponent 12-10, 11-7 and 11-9 in the tempered battle.

Despite the troubling result, the Cardinals remain confident after the loss. Veteran squasher Mike DeLalio ’15 drew some positives from the outcome.

“First of all we had a lot of close matches with Navy, so we left knowing that they are in reach as the season progresses,” DeLalio remarked. “If anything it was uplifting, because we have hope. I think we came into the match a little nervous and tentative. Personally and as a team we realized that we struggle playing against hard-hitters. Everyone on Navy played the power game rather than the finesse game, so we’ll be working on that going forward and look to take down teams like Navy later on this season.”

Looking forward, the Cards will take on Northeastern and Brown to wrap up the first portion of the season on Saturday, Dec. 7. While Northeastern won’t necessarily pose a significant threat to the Birds’ 3-1 record, Wesleyan is wary of its Ivy League counterparts.

Things have been shaping up perfectly for the women’s team as the Cardinals have amassed an unblemished 4-0 start to the 2013-14 season. The Cardinals continued their winning ways at the Boston Round Robin against Northeastern and Boston College where both squads were unable to register even a single victory over the mighty Redbirds.

Playing both of their matches in Cambridge, the Cardinals denied their opponents as each competitor took their contests 3-0. Most impressively perhaps was Claire Miller ’15 who notched a pair of victories at the number six spot and only surrendered seven total points between her two contests. Miller, number one Mary Foster ’14, number two Lauren Nelson ’15, number five Nell Schwed ’14, and number seven Miranda Linsky ’14 stand as the five Cardinal players that have yet to concede a single game so far this season.

The Cardinals continued their string of dominant performances against a well-prepared Wellesley squad ranked 23rd overall. The Cardinals were challenged a bit more as they finally surrendered their first set loss of the year, winning over Wellesley 8-1. Annie Maxwell ’15 willed out a highly contested 3-2 victory at the three spot, taking her final game 11-7. Abigail Smith ’17 also closed out an impressive weekend run, pulling off a third consecutive 3-0 victory at number nine.

This Saturday, the women’s squad will return to the Rosenbaum Squash Center for their first home matchup of the season. The Birds will play host to Smith for the annual Wesleyan Round Robin. The following Sunday, the women’s squad will close out 2013 with matches against William Smith College, Mount Holyoke College, and Vassar College.