Squash Teams Perform Well Against Opponents

Over the weekend, the men’s and women’s squash teams faced three tough teams in Amherst, Dartmouth and Williams. The men came out on top at Amherst, 9-0, but lost two contests to Dartmouth, 2-7, and Williams, 4-5. The women fared slightly better, edging out both Amherst, 9-0, and Williams, 5-4, with the loss versus Dartmouth the only one of the weekend.

The men started the weekend off with a bang on Friday, shutting out Amherst with a dominating victory. In an impressive effort, the Red won six out of its nine matches in three games.

“We were going into Amherst expecting a win,” senior Mike Gelinas said. “Before, we beat Brown, 9-0, and then Brown beat Amherst, so we knew we had the talent to come away with a win. It was the first win of the weekend for us, so were hoping it would bring us together as a team for our matches at Dartmouth and Williams.” [1]Racquet power: Sophomore Ian Holten and the men’s squash team dropped two of three games this weekend while the women won two out of three.

On Saturday afternoon, the men dropped the match to Dartmouth in a 2-7 battle. Points for the Red came from sophomore Chris Sachvie and freshman McKay Claghorn. Sachvie defeated Andrew Boumford, 3-1, while Claghorn beat Michael Shrubb, 3-1, in the No. 5 position.

“Chris Sachvie has definitely been one of the top performers for us,” Gelinas said. “He’s one of our captains as a sophomore and he won all three of his matches over the weekend convincingly. He’s been a star all year and he has especially been on fire since the break. We all could definitely take some inspiration from his play and if we could all bring up our skills to his level, I think our team would be even better.”

The Red let the match against Williams slip away, 4-5. Sachvie won all three of his games to secure the No. 1 position. The Red scored the remainder of its points with three other players, freshman Amar Gupta and sophomores Steven Peeever and Dillon Aldrich. Peever won, 3-2, in a come-from-behind victory in the No. 2 position and Gupta won in similar fashion with three straight wins in the No. 6 position to secure a 3-2 victory. The last of the Red’s points came after a win from Aldrich in the No. 9 position, 3-2.

“Basically, we wanted to go into the weekend and win all three games against all of those teams,” Gelinas said. “We couldn’t do it, so the weekend was a little bit of a disappointment since we only won against Amherst. Our two losses against Dartmouth and Williams were very close, especially against Dartmouth because three of our losses came in a full five games. Williams was also another close bout. It was a really hard-fought, competitive weekend.”

The women performed well this past weekend, winning two out of their three matches. Their first win came against Amherst on Friday in an impressive 9-0 showing. All nine Red players shut out their opponents in three games to win their matches.

“Against Amherst, our win was a little bit expected,” said freshman Isabella Spyrou. “Overall, it was a great start to the weekend for us.”

The only loss of the weekend for the women came on Saturday afternoon against Dartmouth. Points for the Red came with victories from junior Alex Cornett, who defeated Madeline Lurio 3-2 and from freshman Jennifer Gemmell, who defeated Christie Alexander 3-0, at the No. 2 position.

“Our loss to Dartmouth was very close,” Spyrou said. “Many of our matches were hard-fought.”

The women ended the weekend with a bang, securing a surprising victory over No. 8 Williams in a 5-4 match. With wins from sophomore Liza Stokes at No. 3, Cornett at No. 4, senior Mairin Barnes at No. 6, Spyrou at No. 8, and junior Alix Watson at No. 9, the Red women were all able to pull away with the victory.

“It was an awesome weekend, especially since a lot of the team wasn’t feeling well,” Spyrou said. “Our victory at Williams was huge for us with that 5-4 win and Amherst was also great. Liza Stokes went to four and had a great comeback victory; she’s one of our captains as well. Also, Alex Cornett has been a consistent player who pulled through for us at Williams when it was tied. She did a great job.”