The men’s squash team ended its season last weekend after finishing 22nd at the College Squash Association (CSA) National Team Championship held at Wesleyan University.
The Polar Bears lost their first match of the championship to Brown 9-0, with only one of the individual matches going to five sets. However, the team then bounced back to defeat Hobart College 8-1 the next day.

With the win against Hobart the Polar Bears paired up against Colby in the 21st place match. The Mules won fairly easily, with none of their six match wins going to five sets. The loss marked Bowdoin’s third loss to Colby in its underwhelming 5-16 season.

“Our hopes always are to play our best squash of the season at nationals,” said Head Coach Tom Fortson. “Unfortunatelywe only achieved that partially. The entire team played very well to avenge a loss to Hobart during the season.”

Despite the weak showing, there were still a number of bright spots for the Polar Bears over the weekend.

“Against Colby, a few of our players played very well,” said Fortson. “However, the three winners, [Captain] Andrew Ward ’15, Benjamin Bristol ’17 and George Cooley ’18, played excellently. Ward was a hghlight, playing great in his last collegiate match.”

The win in his final match meant a lot to Ward.

“It was a great to end my career with all of my teammates, family and some recent squash alums there supporting me,” said Ward, crediting the influence of teammates, both past and present, in his victory.

“The captain of the team my freshman year, Barrett Takesian ’12, told me before I started that I needed to play with no fear and tonot hold anything back, which is exactly what I did,” said Ward. “It was awesome to beat the Colby player that I had lost to two weeks before.”

Although 22nd place is not the result the team was hoping for, Fortson is optimistic about next season.

“We currently have a young team,” said Fortson. “We expect our players to improve significantly.”