The men’s squash team began its 2008 campaign with a string of three losses at the Yale Round Robin Tournament. The team won its next three matches, though, including two this past weekend, to even up at 3-3 on the year and 6-6 overall.
Before its first match against Middlebury, the team had been training in Puerto Vallarta with former world #1 squash player Jonathan Power.
“The trip to Puerto Vallarta was great,” said co-captain Benjie Messinger-Barnes ’09.
Nate Fowles ’10 agreed but noted the hard work the team put in.
“It was a grueling trip,” he said. “We had two-a-day practices.”
Despite their great training trip, the team gave a relatively disappointing showing in their first match against Middlebury on Jan. 12.
“We have been very competitive with [them] the last few seasons,” Messinger-Barnes said. “Losing to them by such a wide margin was quite unfun.”
Later that same day, the team faced off against the tournament’s host, Yale University.
“[They’re] one of the top 5 teams in the country,” Messinger-Barnes said. “It was a great chance for us to play against much better opponents and improve our game.”
The team capped off the weekend with a 0-9 loss to Franklin & Marshall College, bringing their match total to an unfortunate 2-25 over two days.
“That sucked,” Messinger-Barnes said. “But they have been training super hard with John White, former world #1 and current professional, as their coach.”
The team’s next match was five days later, on Jan. 18. It was the Cards’ second meeting with Vassar this season, and the Cards performed as they did in the first match, winning 9-0.
The only close match of the break was on Saturday against Connecticut College. Wesleyan pulled away with a tight 5-4 win, thanks in large part to great performances in the top and bottom spots of the team’s nine-man ladder (1st-3rd, 7th-9th).
“[They] really stepped up that match” Messinger-Barnes said. “They took five of six matches and guaranteed the win.”
Fowles related a simpler explanation.
“In the words of Dan Charness ’10, ’we started this school, and today we’re going to finish them,’” he said.
The Cards were able to preserve their momentum going into Sunday’s match against Vanderbilt, which they also won 9-0. The players are definitely wary of their competition, however, and know they will face much tougher teams in their NESCAC schedule.
“They are only a club team, so this was expected,” Messinger-Barnes said.
The competition will certainly heat up this coming weekend at the NESCAC championships, held at Wesleyan and Trinity.
“The NESCAC has some of the best teams out there,” Messinger-Barnes said. “Trinity is the best. They haven’t lost a match in seven years.”
Despite the impressive competition that they will face, Messinger-Barnes remains confident.
“As always, we’ll come out fighting, and have a damn good time doing it,” he said.
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