The men and women’s squash teams are ready to improve their standing as the National Championships approach. The men emerged from the weekend with two important wins – beating St. Lawrence 5-4 and Northwestern 8-1. They will travel to the University of Pennsylvania on Saturday to play crucial matches against George Washington and Rochester.
“Of our remaining matches, the two this weekend against George Washington and [University of] Rochester, along with our later matches against Colby and Tufts, will go a long way in determining our standing come Nationals,” said Head Coach David Cukierman. “Our goal is to win three of the four position determining matches.”
The men’s squad has benefited from the return of two study-abroaders – Umay Suanda ’05 and Philip Wallach ’05. However Cukierman has been especially impressed with the leadership and play of his three seniors, Co-Captains Benson Gillespie ’04 and Kevin McCarthy ’04 as well as James Utterback ’04 who won the deciding match against St. Lawrence. Facing the impending loss of the three, the squad is aware of the urgency associated with this season’s success.
“We’ve stepped up the intensity and this weekend is, in many ways, our season,” Gillespie said.
The women’s team hasn’t fared as well this season. With four matches snowed out, the team is still looking for its first win on the season. The Cardinals suffered tough losses this past weekend to Colgate, St. Lawrence, and the University of Toronto while looking for that first win. In their closest game of the season, the Cardinals went the distance with Colgate before dropping the game 4-5. Wes saw big wins from their number two player Sa Suwanarat ’04, number three player Sarah Hopkins ’06, number four player Kristin Lerner ’04, and number eight player Rachel Epstein ’04. The weekend on a whole was not too bad for the Cardinals as Epstein won all of her matches. The women’ s team travels to Smith to match up against Colby and Wellesley this weekend.
Cukierman believes that this winter’s team is the best that Wesleyan has fielded in his tenure. The contribution from the team’s two frosh, Andy Aylward ’07 and Dylan Rau ’07, provides a spark for the future. Even so, Cukierman is interested in “making hay while the sun shines” and intends for the season’s finale to be a memorable one.
Despite the recent success of the men’s team, the semester break did not treat the team very kindly. The only match the squash players did not lose was the match against Vassar that was canceled because of the snow. After shut out losses to Hobart College and Dennison University, the team took on a highly touted Stanford team. The team managed to win two out of the nine matches, leaving the competition with a moral victory but another loss. The two victorious Cardinals were Captains Kevin McCarthy ’04 and James Utterback ’04, playing at #4 and #5 respectively.
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