Men’s squash upsets 17th-ranked Bowdoin

In their opening match of the season on Dec. 5, Middlebury men’s squash played the formidable Princeton team, ranked third in the nation and boasting a roster that includes the country’s top college squash player. The Panther men put up a hard fight, but were defeated 9-0. Coming off of the tough defeat by the Tigers, the 18th-ranked Panthers took on a double challenge this past Saturday, when they faced off against Bowdoin, ranked 17th, and Colby, ranked 24th, at the Williams Tournament.

The Panthers, refueled by a long break and a rigorous practice schedule to start the year, came away victorious in both matches, taking Bowdoin 7-2 and defeating Colby 8-1. The Middlebury victory was well deserved and can be attributed to the depth of their men’s team. The Panther first-years turned in an excellent showing, with all of them winning their matches against Bowdoin and Colby this weekend. The Hurst brother duo also stood out on the weekend and delivered two hard-fought matches to contribute to the win over the Polar Bears, with first-year Parker Hurst ’14 following in the footsteps of success paved by his older brother Spencer Hurst ’13.

Beating the Polar Bears was a particularly triumphant moment for the Panthers, as they lost twice to Bowdoin during last year’s season. On Saturday, the men avenged those losses in a big way. Jay Dolan ’13 led the team’s winning ways with a gutsy victory in five games from the number one spot. The top of the ladder, rounded out by Valentin Quan ’12, Parker Hurst ’14 and Brian Cady ’11, struggled more against their opponents than the bottom five, attesting to the superior depth of the Panther team.

The 8-1 victory against Colby was the cherry on top of the Panthers’successful weekend. Players from all years contributed in the victory, as the team made up for a loss in the contest between number one Dolan and Colby’s Harry Smith and swept the rest of the Mules.

The Panther squash team is beginning just its fourth season as a varsity sport at Middlebury with coach John Illig at the helm, but the team has enjoyed tremendous success so far. Illig has been coaching squash for 18 years at Colby, Bates and now Middlebury.

In their first varsity season, ’07-’08, the Panthers won a NESCAC tournament match and had the opportunity to compete at Nationals. Since then, they have won the national Team Sportsmanship Award in the ’08-’09 season, and finished fifth at NESCACs in their ’09-’10 season. They were ranked 17th nationally last year, and they just defeated the 17th-ranked team this year. They also set a school record of 20 wins last season, with only seven losses, and they are on their way to having yet another record-breaking season this year.