On Saturday, Dec. 5, the men’s and women’s squash teams headed to Clinton, New York to take part in matches at Hamilton College. The women’s squad bounced back from a tough loss to Cornell on Nov. 21 to defeat Hamilton 6-3, and the men’s team dominated both their opponents, Hamilton and Hobart, 9-0.
“Cornell was our opening match and our first trip traveling, so getting back into the swing of things as well as getting rid of all the nerves and anxiety of our opening match, was a big thing,” said Tiffany Hau ’16, a team captain.
With the women’s squad’s win over Hamilton, the fourteenth-ranked Panthers continued their streak of dominance over the Continentals, defeating them for the fourth consecutive time in three years. Middlebury swept all matches in the second through seventh slots on the ladder. Bea Kuijpers ’19 and Alexa Comai ’19 provided the Panthers with strong performances as they both captured their first victories of their college careers, (11-2, 11-3, 11-6) and (11-8, 11-5, 11-8) respectively, and captains Zoe Carey ’16 and Hau provided the Panthers with a punch in the top-middle of the ladder, winning their matches in the third and fourth spots, (12-10, 11-9, 11-2) and (11-6, 11-1, 11-5).
“I’ve really been working on my mental game,” Carey said. “During the Cornell match, once I convinced myself that I could win, I was better able to stay in points and give her a good fight. I was a bit more shaky due to nerves going into the Hamilton match against Lillie Simourian, but I won the big points when I had to and became more confident as the match progressed.”
Getting stronger going into January will be a key for the Panthers’ overall success going forward. They play important matches against Bates, ranked fifteenth-nationally, and Brown, ranked eleventh-nationally, on Jan. 8 and 16 respectively.
“We’ve been training really hard and our team has been really building confidence as the season is progressing,” Hau said. “It’s definitely always tough having the holiday break for winter sports,” Carey said.
“We have been training hard to improve our overall level of fitness,” Carey added. “I know this will show through during our matches against Bates and Brown.”
On the men’s side this weekend, the Panthers swept both Hamilton and Hobart 9-0. The team dropped only two games in its defeat of Hamilton and only three against Hobart.
The middle of the ladder continued to be a strength for the Panthers. Against Hamilton, Harrison Croll ’16 bounced back from losing his first game to take the next three and the win (9-11, 11-2, 11-6, 13-11). Henry Pearson ’17 dominated in the sixth slot (11-3, 11-3, 11-2), while first-year Robert Rohrbach ’19 earned a win in the ninth spot (11-4, 11-1, 12-10) his first collegiate action.
In the match against Hobart, co-Captain David Cromwell ’16 (11-7, 14-12, 13-11) and Wyatt French ’17 (11-1, 11-4, 11-6) swept their opponents to continue their winning ways in the second and third slots respectively.
Will Kurth ’18 continues to stand out at the bottom of the ladder for the Panthers throughout the early part of the season, sweeping both of his opponents (11-4, 11-7, 12-10) and (11-3, 11-6, 13-11).
“I was more fit than Dietz and I knew if I could focus on implementing my game plan I would beat him,” Kurth said. “When I think too critically about a part of my swing or my movement during a match, I tend to mess up strategically. This past weekend, I stopped worrying about the technicalities and just played my game. I felt like my old self and won defiantly. It gives me confidence to work super hard from now until January.”
Although he may show up lower on the lineup card than last season, Kurth provides insurance for the Panthers that they will win their matches at the bottom of the ladder.
“It’s important not to think selfishly and think of this as a good thing,” Kurth said. “It means other guys on the team have raised their game. My team has confidence that I will win my matches at the eighth position, and I plan to do just that.”
The squash teams are off until the end of the break when they travel to Maine to take on Bates on Friday, Jan. 8 and Colby and Hamilton on Saturday, Jan. 9 to start the critical stretch of their season.
“Bates, Bowdoin and Colby will be grueling matches that demand focused preparation and training,” Kurth said. “We are looking forward to the challenge, especially for another chance to beat Bates.”
