The men's and women's squash teams each picked up a win last weekend at a round robin tournament hosted by Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.
The 15th-ranked men's team defeated the Vassar Brewers 9-0 before failing to break the 12-year winning streak of top-ranked Trinity, losing 9-0. The Polar Bears then went on to lose a closely-fought match 5-4 to 19th-ranked George Washington University (GWU). The weekend left the men with a 2-3 record.
The 21st-ranked women's team also defeated Vassar with an impressive 6-3 victory before falling to No. 18-ranked GWU 8-1. The mixed pair of matches leaves the squad with a 1-3 record as it ends the fall semester.
The team was at a disadvantage when Christiana Whitcomb '14 in the No. 5 slot injured her ankle halfway through her first game against Vassar and had to forfeit the match, forcing everyone below her to play one position up against GWU.
"The team did a great job against Vassar," Whitcomb said. "Everyone played well and we were definitely the better team."
She also has high hopes for the team heading into the second semester.
"I'm really hoping that we can play GWU again with all our players present, because one of our best players is abroad right now and another one is recovering from surgery," she said. "I think that the prospects for next semester are great, because we'll have all our players participating and everyone on the team is already playing really well right now."
For the men, Stephan Danyluk '14 in the No. 3 slot and Andrew Hilboldt '13 at the No. 4 spot took home a pair of singles wins against both Vassar and GW
For the women, Lauren Gesswein '11 improved to 3-1 on the season in the No. 1 position. She took Bowdoin's sole win against GWU and shut out her opponent 3-0 in the match against Vassar.
Despite the upset loss to GWU, Hillboldt believes that the team will improve as the season continues.
"Obviously, getting upset early on in the season is difficult," he said. "However, it is early in the season, and the way we train puts us at our best ability for nationals at the end of the season. Few, if any, programs we compete against train harder than we do."
The teams return to the court on January 8 when they travel to Williamstown, Mass., to face off against Williams and Middlebury.