Squash Teams Earn Conference Victories

Middlebury squash continued its strong start to the season, as both the men’s and women’s squads swept the weekend to improve to 6-1, both teams’ only defeat coming at the hands of second-ranked Trinity. The 19th ranked men’s team set the tone on Friday, Jan. 9 in Cambridge, Massachusetts against 33rd ranked MIT, seizing the day with a 9-0 victory and no Panther player needing more than four games to win their match.

Highlights for the Panthers were Andrew Cadienhead ’17, David Cromwell ’16 and Cameron Dewey ’18, who all won a game 11-0. Cromwell’s strong showing comes on the heels of his performance last month in the Division III Individual Championships, where he advanced to the finals of the “B” bracket.

The Panthers stayed in Massachusetts on Saturday, Jan 11. playing in Williamstown against 22nd ranked Bowdoin and 23rd ranked Colby. The Panthers had no problem handling both the Polar Bears and the Mules, defeating Bowdoin 8-1 and Colby 7-2.

Ben Krant ’17 had a strong day, winning both of his matches, capturing both in the minimum six games. After defeating the Polar Bears’ Max Bearse in just three games (eight, eight, five), Wyatt French ’17 went ahead of Colby’s Ben Kwass two games to nothing in the day’s second match. With the exception of the Trinity match at the beginning of the season, French has yet to drop a match.  However, in the third game against Kwass, French played a scrappy game that went down to the wire, ultimately losing 13 to 11.  After dropping another chance to close out Kwass and lock up a point in the third slot for Middlebury, French would not be denied in the rubber match, defeating Kwass 11-5.  The bottom of the Panthers’ lineup continued its consistent play, as Dewey ’18 and Robert Galluccio ’14 swept their opponents in both matches.

The Middlebury women’s side also had continued its success this weekend. On Saturday, Jan. 10 the Panthers defeated 19th ranked Bowdoin 9-0 and 22nd ranked Colby 8-1. The only loss of the day came when the women’s number one player, Saskia Powell-Gray ’16, took on Colby’s top player Devin Mullaney ’18. After losing the first match, Powell-Gray maintained her composure and fought back, leading two games to one. Mullaney evened up the score by winning decisively in the fourth game, 11-2, and then carried the momentum into the rubber match, narrowly edging out Powell-Gray 11-7.

On Sunday, Jan. 11 the women’s team continued to dominate its competition. The Mount Holyoke squad was no match for the Panthers, as Middlebury emerged victorious in each match. Audrey Ellen ’17 played in the seventh slot for Sunday’s match, but was a highlight for the women’s team on an already very bright day as she swept her opponent by a combined 33-3 score. Lizzy Hurst ’18 saw the first in-match action of her career for the Panthers on Sunday. She played in the ninth slot and put an exclamation point on the strong effort by the Panthers with her 33-4 victory over Mount Holyoke freshman Amanda Lee.

Next up for both teams is the Yale Round Robin this Saturday and Sunday. The men and women face Columbia and George Washington on Saturday, Jan. 17 and Sunday, Jan. 18, respectively.  The weekend’s highlight will be the women’s match against the fourth ranked host school Yale at 12:30pm on Saturday, Jan. 17.