Squash Enjoys Strong Weekend

The Middlebury men’s squash team continued their early season string of success this past weekend, Nov. 30 to Dec. 2, going 2-1 over three days of matches this past weekend both at home and at Dartmouth. Despite falling 1-8 to the perennial powerhouse United States Naval Academy on Friday evening, the Panther Men quickly recovered and fought hard to win both of their matches versus Bowdoin and Drexel by team scores of 5-4.

In their match against Navy on Friday night, the Panther men garnered their only individual win from Parker Hurst ’14 in the number-two spot, who won his match in four games. Despite losing the other eight individual matches, five of them were played to five games, indicating that the team results could have certainly gone a different way.

On Saturday, the Panther men travelled to Dartmouth where they played in a round robin versus 20th-ranked Bowdoin. Middlebury took the first match versus Bowdoin by a team score of 5-4. They then rallied back at home on Sunday, and taking a match 5-4 against 24th-ranked Drexel in a nail-biting finish that came down to captain Jay Dolan ’13 winning his number-one spot match in five games against Drexel’s Ibrahim Bakir. Other notable performances in the Drexel match include wins from Robert Galuccio ’13 in the number-five spot, and wins from Harrison Croll ’15, Will Hanley ’15, and Willy Clarke ’15 in the seven, eight and nine-spots, respectively.

“We were happy with the two good tight wins over Drexel and Bowdoin,” said co-captain Spencer Hurst ’13. “Different guys have been stepping up in each match, which is good to see. However, we need to keep working hard over break to assure a successful J-term.”

The women’s squash team, with a much lighter schedule, won its match by a team score of 7-2 versus Drexel on Sunday. The women won their three, four, five, sox, seven, eight and nine-spot matches all in three or four games. Despite losses in, their top two-spot matches, both were finished close, as each was played to four games.

Both teams have a break over the next few weeks until matches start again in early January.