Last weekend, the Bowdoin men’s and women’s squash teams hosted the first-ever D-III Individual Squash Tournament. Although all college squash teams technically compete at the D-I level, the invitational tournament offered an opportunity for NESCAC and other typically D-III schools in the area to send their top four players.
As an individuals-only event, the tournament was a unique opportunity for all involved, explained women’s team captain Rachel Barnes ’15.
“There’s an individual tournament after nationals, but that’s really tough because you can play, for instance, the Harvard number one in the first round,” she said.
Moreover, the tournament selected for schools of a similar size, ensuring an even playing field.
“In college squash, we compete in one comprehensive group which includes schools from all divisions,” wrote Head Coach Tomas Fortson in an email to the Orient. “Over the last few years, the influx of world-class players from other countries has made it very difficult for D-III athletes (especially NESCAC) to compete at the national stage.”
“D-I and D-III schools have different practice schedules, so it’s kind of good to differentiate based on [that factor],” added Barnes.
In the tournament’s A Division, consisting of the top two players from each team’s lineup, Barnes advanced to the quarterfinals, while Chloe Polikoff ’17 won three matches in the B Division, advancing to the finals before losing to Tufts’ Paige Dahlman.
The men’s results were also encouraging, with team captain Stephan Danyluk ’14 taking fourth place in the A Division before losing to Kevin Chen of Williams.
One unusual aspect of the tournament was that players from the same team occasionally had to play each other, though such a pairing did not occur for the Bowdoin women.
On the men’s team however, No. 3 Reid Wilson ’14 and No. 8 Will Winmill ’14 faced off.
“It was a really close match that came down to the final game, and I think that is a testament to our depth and the strength of our lineup,” said Danyluk. “[Winmill] was actually winning for a long time, and [Wilson] had to come back.”
Although the invitational was originally scheduled to take place last year, a storm prevented the tournament from going forward. This year, Fortson and the Athletic Department were keen to make the event successful.
“It takes time to organize an event like this,” said Fortson. “We tried to keep players from the same school away from each other in the draw and had to consider starting time issues for teams traveling from afar.”
Next year, the second inaugural invitational will move to a different host school.
“The plan is for this tournament to rotate and give different schools a chance to host an elite event,” said Fortson. “I expect it will come back to Bowdoin in the future.”