The men’s squash team had a strong showing at the Collegiate Squash Association (CSA) Team Championships over the weekend, taking down the University of Virginia while dropping a pair of 5-4 heartbreakers to Northwestern University and Georgetown University. While the Cards were edged out in two of their three matches, they played their last team tournament in style, winning 15 individual matches while only dropping 12.
The squad opened its weekend Friday against Northwestern, which quickly dismantled Wesleyan’s top two seeds. The Cards then looked to the heart of their ladder to make things interesting, as Dale Kobrin ’11, Nate Fowles ’10, co-captain Tyler Snell ’09 and Lonnie Gibbs ’10, ranked third through sixth, respectively, all won their matches. The Wildcats, however, earned three crucial victories at the bottom of the ladder to edge by Wesleyan, 5-4.
The match was much closer than the teams’ previous meeting, a 7-2 Northwestern victory on Nov. 17 in Wesleyan’s second match of the season. Wesleyan last defeated Northwestern—which came into the match 4-4 all-time against the Cardinals—in 2005-06, by a 7-2 margin. The Wildcats have won the last five meetings between the two teams after Wesleyan swept the first four.
The Cards came out swinging in their next bout, trouncing Virginia by a margin of 7-2. Top seed Robert Broadfoot ’10 won his match 3-1, while co-captain Benjie Messinger-Barnes ’09 held down the #2 slot, blanking his opponent, 3-0. Once again, the middle of the ladder was successful for Wesleyan, taking home wins in seeds three through six. Blake Rosenbaum ’12 also tacked on a victory at the number-nine spot, completing the rout with a 3-0 win.
In its last competition of the season, Wesleyan came out strong against Georgetown, as the top three seeds got the job done for the Cards, with Broadfoot and Messinger-Barnes sweeping their matches. With the Hoyas knocking out the bottom of the Wesleyan ladder, the decisive battle was fought at the fourth spot. It took all five games, but Nate Fowles ’10 was eventually beaten by his Georgetown adversary to give the Hoyas the 5-4 victory.
“Our team had some close matches over the weekend,” Broadfoot said. “We beat Virginia quite convincingly, and our losses against Northwestern and Georgetown were tight.”
The team finished its season 7-15 overall and ranked 30th nationally, including sixth of eight teams in the “D” division. Dale Kobrin ’11 and Snell tied for the team lead in wins with 11. Kobrin was the lone player to post a winning record with a 11-10 record. Snell, who was one of six players to see action in every match, finished the year 11-11. Lonnie Gibbs ’10 also broke the double-digit mark in wins, finishing with a 10-12 record. Broadfoot and Messinger-Barnes both went 9-13 at the top two spots.
The final action of the season comes this weekend in the three-day National Individual Tournament, which will be hosted by Williams. Wesleyan may send a representative to the tournament.
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