Men’s, Women’s Squash Teams Split at St. Lawrence

The Middlebury men’s and women’s squash teams continued their string of success to close out the regular season and NESCAC tournament as the year winds down.

In its last regular season match, the Panthers women’s team triumphed over Columbia by winning 6-3. Charlotte Dewey ’15 led the win against Columbia in the number one spot for the Panthers, coming away with a victory in five sets. The remaining five match wins came from Zoe Carey ’16, Saskia Pownall-Gray ’16, Amanda Chen ’14, Lindsay Becker ’13 and Katie Dewey ’15, the five through nine spots respectively. Three of those five matches were also won in five sets.

Meanwhile, the men’s team came up short in its match against Columbia, losing 5-4. Middlebury’s Parker Hurst ’14, Robert Gallucio ’15 Reed Palmer ’15, and Will Hanely ’15 defeated their Lion opponents. This however, was not enough for Middlebury to gain the win over perennial powerhouse and 10th-ranked Columbia.

On Feb. 2, both the men and women’s teams traveled down to Hartford, Conn. to compete in the NESCAC championship held at Trinity College. Going into the tournament seeded fourth in the 11-team bracket, the Middlebury men finished in that same spot, behind Trinity, Williams and Bates, in that order.

After receiving a bye for their first-round match, the Panthers took on Bowdoin, handling the Polar Bears by a match score of 8-1. This placed Middlebury in their third straight NESCAC semifinal appearance against top-ranked powerhouse Trinity.

The Panthers fell to Trinity by a match score of 0-9. After losing to Trinity, Middlebury played in the third place match set against Bates College and lost 2-7. Sophomore Will Hanley ’15 and junior Will Moore ’14 were the only Panthers that bettered their Bates opponents. Trinity went on to win their seventh NESCAC championship against Williams College.

Spencer Hurst ’13 was content with his team’s tournament performance.

“We were happy to have a truly decisive win over Bowdoin after having previously close matches with them,” said Hurst. “Although we lost against Trinity, it was a good experience and fun to play against such great talent. Overall we were happy about our performance, but would have liked to have a better outcome in the Bates match. We will most likely see them at nationals and we look to put forth a better result.”

Meanwhile, the Middlebury women, going into the weekend seeded third in the tournament, also finished in the same place as their seed, falling behind top-ranked Trinity and Williams College.

After earning a bye for the first round of match play the Panther women faced Bowdoin College, shutting them out in a match score of 9-0. The Panthers then advanced to the quarterfinals against

NESCAC rival Williams, where they lost in a close battle by a match score of 6-3.

To finish the weekend, the Middlebury women beat Bates by a match score of 6-3 to earn the third place finish. All six wins came from the bottom six seeds for Middlebury, speaking to the depth on this year’s team. The Trinity women’s team also placed first in the NESCAC championship, beating Williams College by a score of 9-0.

After the weekend of NESCAC championship play, the Middlebury men then traveled to ninth-ranked St. Lawrence, falling by a match score of 9-0. Both Spencer and Parker Hurst played their matches to five games against their St. Lawrence opponents.

After a short respite, the Middlebury men will travel to Yale to play in the national team tournament beginning on Feb. 22. Meanwhile, the women will travel to Yale a week earlier to play in the same national tournament on the weekend of the Feb. 15.