If you didn’t know, regular season squash is a thing of the past, at least until next November.
Last weekend, the teams hosted Vassar College and Tufts in their final home match of the season. It was the final time to suit up in the Red and Black for Liza Bayless ’16, Bridget Doherty ’16, Tessa Hill ’16, Ellen Paik ’16, Guy Davidson ’16, Raheem Logan ’16, Jason Brandner ’16 and Alex Bakes ’16. Consequently, it was a bittersweet day at the Rosenbaum Squash Courts and an air of festivity coursed through the players. Both sides had positive days out on the courts. The women swept Vassar 9-0 after battling to a closely contested 5-4 loss against Tufts. Meanwhile, the men summarily romped both of their opponents without a single player dropping a game.
Ranked 25th nationally, the women entered the day hoping to end the season in style and eager for another chance against Tufts, to whom they had narrowly fallen just a week prior. The Cards proved their quality against the 23rd-ranked Jumbos, and the match could have gone either way.
Unfortunately, in the end, strength at the top could not propel the Cardinals to victory. Laila Samy ’18 dispassionately waxed her opponent at the top spot, as has become customary over the last two seasons, by scores of 11-0, 11-1, 11-4. With another two wins this weekend, Samy remains undefeated after two full regular seasons at Wesleyan. In all likelihood, this statistic will extend to her team postseason career after nationals this weekend. In a few weeks, she will be challenging for the national individual title, where she recorded her only loss.
Bayless earned a well-fought, four-game victory against her Tufts opponent, and Doherty dictated play in a 3-0 victory against a worthy opponent at the number-three position. The co-captains, determined to finish their careers strong, were not to be denied on the day. Doherty had lost to the same opponent in three games just a week prior, so this was a massive win for her, and provided a storybook ending to her home squash career. Bayless proved her mettle at the tough second position and put her team in a position to win. Annie Ferreira ’17 picked up a huge win at the number-seven spot, duking it out with her opponent in a tight four-gamer. But that’s all the success Wesleyan could muster against the higher-ranked Jumbos. They came extremely close, though, as two of their losses came in five-game epics. At six, Abigail Smith ’17 admirably battled back from a 2-0 hole to force a fifth game, but couldn’t complete the comeback. At nine, Paik found herself up 2-1, but could not close out the victory. Had either one of those tight games gone the other way, the Cardinals would have snagged a meaningful victory.
Their afternoon match against 29th-ranked Vassar proved a much easier affair. The squad swept eight of nine positions en route to a 9-0 victory.
“The play last weekend against Tufts and Vassar was great, and I think went a long way towards showing our team how prepared we are for nationals this weekend,” Bayless said. “We had some incredibly hard-fought matches, and Bridget pulled a win out of probably the best and toughest match she’s had in her squash career. It was incredibly inspiring to see, and it set an example for our team that no matter what results have been over the season, this weekend at Yale is something new and anything is possible.”
The story of the men’s weekend was of support shown to the seniors on their final day, as the matches themselves were, essentially, over before they started. Though Tufts is a solid outfit, the Cardinals are far superior, and they showed as much in the 9-0 beatdown that they put on. Vassar was much weaker, and the Cards, almost perfunctorily, chopped them.
“Last weekend was a lot of fun,” said Alex Kamisher ’17. “It was really good practice for us heading into Nationals. They weren’t the toughest of competitors but they were able to push us, which allowed us to work on our shots and mental ability in preparation for this weekend.”
For Kamisher, the weekend made real that the seniors were coming to the end of their careers.
“It’s pretty sad that Raheem, Guy, Bakes and Brandner are leaving,” he said. “They’ve been really core to my time at Wesleyan. They’re four of my closest friends and I’ll really miss them. Not having them next year is going to be really weird. Also, we’re definitely going to miss having such a strong top of the ladder with Raheem and Guy.”
The men’s and women’s teams enter Nationals, which will be held at Yale, ranked 19th and 26th, respectively. This means that the men qualify for the “C” division, and the women qualify for the “D” division. In the first round, the men face off against Amherst, whom they beat 5-4 at the Little Three Championships, and the women will get another bite at Vassar.
“In my opinion our match against Amherst is huge,” Kamisher said. “If we get off on a strong foot and win there it sets us up well for the weekend. Williams is a really tough match, but it would just be icing on the cake to beat them. If we can beat Amherst on Friday, the rest of our weekend will be awesome.”
“We unfortunately didn’t make Division C, but our goal now is to win Division D, because we are the strongest team in the division,” Samy said.
Bayless also shared her goals for the weekend.
“We’re very excited to meet Vassar again [Friday] at 5 after having great matches against them last weekend,” she said. “I think we’re feeling well prepared, each of us knowing what worked well and what to adjust, and overall I think there’s just a lot of positivity and excitement going into this final weekend. Everyone’s been working like crazy recently to brush up on certain shots and learn how to play against different styles, and I think that will show this weekend. We’ll be playing a lot of teams at nationals we’re not used to playing, so that will also be a lot of fun and present some opportunities to come at it with a fresh mindset.”
After her last ever home match, Bayless reflected on how she and Doherty will remember this season.
“For me and Bridget, it’s bittersweet heading into this last weekend after four years with the Wesleyan squash team,” she said. “But we’re incredibly proud of the work and heart that’s gone into this season and the improvements we’ve seen from really all of the players have been incredible.”
Nationals commence Friday (today), at 2 p.m. for the men and 5 p.m. for the women. New Haven’s not too far, so, everyone, get down there and show some love for your favorite squasher.