Men's Squash Struggles on Season Ending Road Trip Headed to C Draw at Nationals

Following a third-place finish at Nescacs earlier this month, punctuated by the Panthers’ dismantling of Williams 8–1 in the third place match to avenge a narrow road loss on Jan. 6, the 21st-ranked men’s squash team rode into last weekend’s trip to No. 16 Navy, No. 11 George Washington and No. 12 Drexel aiming to defeat a more highly ranked team which could have propelled the Panthers into the CSA top 16 and the B bracket draw at nationals.

Despite Middlebury’s 8–1 victory over Williams just two days prior, the rankings the CSA released on Feb. 6 slotted the No. 21 Panthers one spot below No. 20 Williams.

“It was discouraging to not jump Williams in the rankings after beating them as badly as we did,” team captain Ryan Swope ’18 said, “but that actually ended up being motivation for us moving into this weekend.”

The road trip began last Friday, Feb. 9, with Middlebury taking on No. 16 Navy in Annapolis. In what was the program’s first trip to Navy’s home courts in Bancroft Hall, the Panthers figured that the matchup against the Midshipmen would be their best chance of the weekend to knock off a top 16 opponent and pull closer to their goal of breaking through to the B bracket.

“Navy was expected to be the most winnable match but we just didn’t come ready to play – Navy also happens to be, unsurprisingly, one of the toughest teams mentally and physically,” said Swope, which posed problems for a sluggish Panther team.

The Panthers’ record over the last few seasons in matches against Navy suggested they had the potential to push the Midshipmen last Friday. However, the Panthers came out flat and lost 9–0, with no one pushing his Navy opponent past four sets—Sam Giddens ’18 managed to sweep Navy’s Danny Finnegan in straight sets in the exhibition match.

John Epley ’21, who has played well in his rookie campaign, narrowly missed the chance to send his match with Navy’s Dylan Sweeney into a fifth set. After dropping the first set to Sweeny 11–4, Epley made things closer in the second set which he lost 11–7 before he managed to turn the tide in the third set with a convincing 11–5 victory. With some momentum on Epley’s side, the first-year pushed Sweeney in the fourth and deciding set before falling 14–12.

At the bottom of the ladder, Swope and Thomas Wolpow ’20 also narrowly missed on playing a fifth match against their Navy opponents. In the No. 8 slot for the Panthers, Wolpow rebounded from a 0–2 set deficit to defeat Navy’s No. 8 11–9 in the third set before falling 11–9 in the deciding fourth set. In the nine spot for Middlebury, Swope made things closer in his second and third games than the final score indicates. Swope won his second set over Navy’s Greg Hyer 11–8 and dropped a marathon third game 16–14 before Swope bowed out in the fourth set by losing 11–2.

Understandably deflated by the lopsided loss to a Navy team they needed to challenge in order to have a shot at achieving their goal of finishing the season in the top 16, the Panthers had a hard time rebounding when they headed to the nation’s capital last Saturday, Feb. 10, to take on a very talented No. 11 George Washington squad.

The Panthers’ Nos. 2 and 3, Jacob Ellen ’20 and Jack Kagan ’20, along with Swope at No. 9, all managed to get off to a good start against GW by winning their first sets. Ellen’s 11–5 victory in his opening game was the most convincing of the three, but Kagan and Swope also scored emphatic 11–7 victories.

Unfortunately, Ellen and Kagan were overmatched by their top-of-the-ladder opponents from George Washington, who evidently stepped up their urgency after falling behind. Ellen lost to Jamie Oakley, who has played well for the Colonials at the top of their ladder, 11–5, 11–6, 11–7 in the second, third, and fourth games. Kagan lost in succession to George Washington’s senior from Dublin, Oisin Logan, who is 13–4 on the year despite playing all of his matches at the top half of GW’s ladder, 11–3, 11–6, 11–0 in their final three games. At the bottom of the ladder, Swope played GW’s Omar Mussehl more closely. Swope lost the second and fourth sets 11–6 and played Mussehl tightly in a 12–10 loss in the third game.

The closest match for the Panthers on the day, however, came courtesy of Wolpow in the eight spot. Wolpow was in a position to beat GW’s No. 8 in three of the four sets he played. He lost the opening game 12–10 before rebounding in a close 11–9 second set. After letting the third set get away from him, Wolpow battled back in what turned out to be a marathon fourth set and just narrowly lost 14–12.

After back-to-back 9–0 defeats, the Panthers headed to Philadelphia to close the regular season last Sunday, Feb. 11, when they took on No. 12 Drexel. While they could simply have packed it in, the Panthers came out fighting and played Drexel closely, despite the 7–2 losing result.

Against the Dragons, the wins for the Panthers came from Ellen and Kagan at the top of the ladder. Ellen perhaps got lucky given his opponent in the No. 2 spot, Lucas Rousselet, had to retire after beating Ellen 11–3 in the opening game. However, when Rousselet had to drop out, Ellen held a 5–2 lead in the second game.

Kagan got a victory for the Panthers in the third slot over Atticus Kelly, a senior who is winding down a good career for Drexel, in four sets: 11–6, 9–11, 15–13, 11–7. Despite winning the opening set and playing a close second game, Kagan must have been in a slightly uncomfortable position. He won his opening set only to lose the ensuing three games against both Navy and GW. On top of those results, Kagan was facing a formidable opponent in Kelly.

“Those results definitely did cross my mind against Kelly because in both of them I was playing really strong opponents and I came out strong in the first game but wasn’t able to keep it up,” said Kagan. “I didn’t feel like I did anything particularly special in the first game so losing the second definitely scared me.”

The fact that the third set turned into a marathon could not have made things any easier for Kagan. Nevertheless, the sophomore held on and grinded out a 15–13 momentum-swinging victory that ultimately propelled him to win the match for the Panthers in the No. 3 slot.

“I would definitely say winning the third was a huge relief,” said Kagan. “I knew I had the upper hand and I was telling myself whether it be in four games or five that I was winning the match no matter what. For whatever reason I just wasn’t getting tired, which was really different from the GW and Navy matches.”

The result was a good way to end what was a long weekend for Kagan, and it was a good way to build some momentum heading into nationals.

“This weekend was definitely draining but I think it was a positive experience overall,” said Kagan. “We increased our level of play continuously.

“I think especially after the Drexel result, people are ready to rest but also ready to work and are super excited for nationals next weekend,” Kagan said in describing how the team is looking forward to the opportunity at the championships in Hartford Feb. 23-25.

Although Ellen and Kagan represented the only victories for the Panthers in the regular season finale against No. 12 Drexel, Middlebury made things close from top to bottom on the ladder.

At the bottom of the ladder, Wolpow and Swope again put in good efforts for the Panthers as both took their opponents to a fifth set. Wolpow actually held a 2–1 set lead after winning his second and third games 11–7 and 11–6. Swope managed to send his match to a fifth game by winning a nail biter in the fourth game 13–11, momentarily staving off a loss and evening his tilt with Drexel’s Royston Raymond.

Middlebury’s No. 4, Henry Pearson ’18, also had a good showing. Pearson lost to Dylan Kachur in four sets but all three games that he lost came down to the final points. Pearson pushed the first set past 11, before falling 12–10. Following a loss in the second game, 11–9, Pearson took it to Kachur in the third game, winning 11–5. Much like the first two sets, the fourth of Pearson’s games could have gone either way, but Kachur escaped with an 11–9 win to take the match. Pearson’s and Swope’s fellow senior, Giddens, also provided the Panthers with another positive with his straight sets victory in the exhibition match.

After last weekend’s results that saw the Panthers’ hopes of achieving their top-16 goal evaporate, the team has begun to adjust and prepare for another C bracket championship nationals. If they manage to finish 17th again – which would entail a Middlebury victory in the C draw at next week’s national team championships – it would mark the seventh time in the last decade that the Panthers bring the Summers Cup back to Middlebury.

“Since our team will be put into the C draw for the national tournament, the goal is to now win the C draw and finish 17th,” said the captain, Swope. “The takeaway from this past couple of weeks is that we ought to believe we can do that. The teams we played this weekend – Navy, Drexel, and GW – are all better than the competition we will face in the C draw at nationals, which will include Williams and Bates – teams we have now beaten.”

When asked about why it seems this year’s rendition of the Panthers has had a tougher time getting over the hump as compared to past seasons when the team had an even or lesser talent level, Swope agreed with the idea that relative lack of experience at the collegiate level has played a factor. For evidence of the relative inexperience at the college level, look no further than last weekend’s starting lineup where seven of the nine starters were first-years or sophomores.

“I think it has been easy to understate the talent on this team just because we haven’t gotten some of the wins we wanted to, but I would absolutely agree the talent is as strong this year as it ever has been, if not better,” Swope explained. “What we lack is college match experience. Seven out of the nine in our starting lineup are underclassmen, and our seniors that are playing in the top nine only have [approximately] two years of starting experience compared to the four years of experience seniors on other teams sometimes have. I believe that has been a factor in some of the close 5–4 and 6–3 losses we’ve been dealt.

“However, this team’s ceiling is incredibly high with a very talented and quickly growing underclassmen base. I’ve been nothing but impressed with the way this team has handled adversity in the form of injuries as well as inexperience. Their growth has been really visible, and I believe they are ready to finish 17th just like we did last year!”

The Panthers will take a break from match play for the rest of this week as they await the CSA’s final rankings for their seeding in the C draw and continue preparations for next weekend’s trip to nationals.