Squash Teams Split Matches at Hamilton

The men’s and women’s squash teams both traveled to Clinton, NY to take on Hamilton on Saturday, Nov. 23. The Continentals provided the Panthers with their first NESCAC competition of the season.

The Panthers, ranked 12th nationally, started the day off with four consecutive losses in match-play at the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth slots, with Hamilton’s players playing very impressive squash. Amanda Chen ’14, despite losing at the sixth slot, showed determination, taking her opponent, Hannah Coffin, to five games. The marathon game was featured as the Harrow Sports Collegiate Squash Match of the Week, for which Coffin earned NESCAC Player of the Week honors.

Middlebury picked up its first win on the day at the fifth slot, with Saskia Pownall-Gray ’16 dominating her opposition from Hamilton, winning in straight sets. Pownall-Gray was incredibly efficient, winning each game by a considerable margin.

Middlebury kept up the dominant play at the third and fourth slots, with Tiffany Hau ’16 and Zoe Carey ’16 both winning in straight sets. Carey in particular impressed, allowing her opponent to score only five points in each of the last two games. Middlebury split the final two games at the first and second slots, with Abby Jenkins ’14 winning her number one match in five games, and Annie Wymard ’15 taking her opponent to a fifth game but coming up short.

Twentieth-ranked Hamilton upset the higher-ranked Panthers with a final tally of 5-4. The win marked Hamilton’s first over the Middlebury women’s squash program since Feb. 3, 2000.

On the men’s side, the seventeenth-ranked Panthers completely dominated the number 24 Continentals. Having blanked Stanford 9-0 the weekend before, the Panthers were able to duplicate that feat, utterly controlling the match against a talented Hamilton team.

Reed Palmer ’15 and Bent Krant ’17 opened play at the eighth and ninth slots respectively with wins, followed by Wyatt French’s ’17 and Robert Galluccio’s ’15 manhandling over their opponents in straight sets at the sixth and seventh slots. After a five game win by Harrison Croll ’16 at the fifth slot, Middlebury would then go on to win the final four matches all in three games.

Andrew Cadienhead ’17, playing in the fourth slot, swept his opponent from Hamilton. In the third slot, senior Will Moore ’14 took care of business in short order. Andrew Jung ’16 held down the second slot, and Parker Hurst ’14 ended the day on a positive note with a clean sweep of Hamilton’s Martin Bawden. Senior leaders Hurst and Moore appear to be playing in good form, a good sign going forward for the Middlebury men’s squash team.

Both teams have busy weekends ahead, as the women will play four and the men five matches between Saturday, Dec. 7 and Sunday, Dec. 8.

The women will host conference foes 22nd ranked Colby and 17th ranked Bowdoin on Saturday. On Sunday, St. Lawrence and Tufts will be in town to challenge the Panthers.

On the men’s side the Panthers will  see some stiff competition. They will welcome conference foes Colby and 20th ranked Bowdoin to Middlebury on Saturday and square off with out-of-conference opponents Bard and sixth-ranked St. Lawrence on Sunday. Finally, the men will play Tufts on Sunday evening at 4:00 p.m.