The men’s and women’s squash teams each faced off against five opponents over winter break to mixed results.
The men tackled Colby, Williams, Connecticut College, Wesleyan and, last Saturday, Brown. The Polar Bears defeated Colby 6-3 before losing 9-0 to both Williams and Connecticut College. A narrow 5-4 loss to Wesleyan followed by a 6-3 win against Brown rounded out the week.
Many of these matches featured excellent performances by individual players.
“Christian Dorff ’17, our number five, lost against Colby but he did really well against Wesleyan,” said Alex Reisley ’16. “[Dorff’s game] went deep into the fifth game until he was able to win by two.”
Despite Dorff’s efforts, the Polar Bears lost narrowly to the Cardinals that game. After Bowdoin fell three matches behind their opponents with a score of 4-1, the men were able to come back during the next three matches and tie the game up.
“It came down to the last match,” said Reisley. “We were tied 4-4, and Ben Bristol [’17] was unfortunately unable to win his match. We had a couple close matches, and had we won just one of them we could have gotten the win overall.”
The loss to Wesleyan was quickly followed up by a victory against Brown University, currently ranked no. 17 in the nation.
“Probably our biggest win came when we beat Brown,” said Reisley. “We were winning 4-2 but were down in the next three matches. It kind of seemed like [Brown was] going to win the next three matches and beat us 5-4, but after one of our guys lost his match, our number one, Stephan [Danyluk ’14] went down two games and won the next three in a row.”
For the men, the win against Brown underscores just how varied this squash season has been.
“We’ve had kind of an up and down season,” said Reisley. “We play well, and then lose, play poorly, then bounce back.”
The women’s squash team began their series with an 8-1 victory against Colby.
“The match against Colby was a good one. They always give us a hard time,” said Michaela Martin ’14. “They fight really well, but it wasn’t a huge upset. We’re happy with how it turned out.”
Two days later, the women played 18th-ranked Williams. Despite a loss of 8-1, the women’s number two managed to win her match.
After Williams, the women faced Connecticut College, whose team graduated several players last year and was unable to maintain a full lineup. The Polar Bears were able to field some players who normally do not receive the chance to play, while still managing a commanding 9-0 victory.
Two days later, they played Wesleyan University.
“Wesleyan is typically our biggest match of the season,” said Martin. “We beat them 5-4 in nationals last year and we were expecting a really close match and really tough competition.”
“Unfortunately, [Wesleyan] came in missing two players, so we went 8-1 and a lot of the matches were actually not that close. We’re obviously always happy to get a win, but we were looking forward to a really big challenge and were kind of disappointed at how things turned out.”
Last Saturday, the women defeated Brown.
“We had some very close matches—much closer at least than I can ever remember from my time here,” said Martin, noting that while the result is positive, “on the other hand it makes us think if we’re at this level, how can we take that into the next level and get the results that we want?”
When asked to what she might attribute the women’s success so far this season, Martin was quick to mention the improvements during training over break.
“We put in so much work during J-break and improved a ton,” she said. “I think we are looking for a repeat championship for our division. This upcoming weekend is a huge weekend for that."
Head Coach Thomas Fortson echoed these sentiments.
“We’ve got a big weekend of competition coming up in New Haven,” he said. “We’ll have four or five matches at Yale, then four matches at NESCAC Championships. We’re excited because the peak of our competition is coming up.”