While this past weekend was headlined by the Citrus Bowl, it was far from the only athletic competition on campus, as Hamilton’s squash teams hosted their first home match of the season. Both the men’s and women’s teams hosted Bowdoin and Middlebury on Saturday; both teams beat the Bowdoin Polar Bears, but lost to the Middlebury Panthers.
Hamilton’s men’s team came into this weekend with a record of 1–1. They played Tufts and Williams over the weekend before Thanksgiving break. The Continentals kicked off the season with a very intense 5–4 victory over Tufts. Unfortunately, they lost the next day against Williams.
Going into this weekend, Hamilton was ranked 28th, according to the College Squash Association. Their first match on Saturday was against 27th ranked Bowdoin. The Continentals won 6–3 on both the men’s and women’s side. Colin O’Dowd ’19 was able to stay strong and beat opponent in four games. Two of the games were particularly close battles; O’Dowd won 13–11 and 14–12. Callum Sondhi ’20 and John Sawyers ’21 swept their opponents in the second and fourth positions respectively. Tristan Chaix ’20 and Ward Urban ’18 both won in four games. Will Jordan ’20 swept his opponent in a dominating showing. Jarrod Gerstein ’20 won his exhibition match in four games. I spoke with Jordan ’20 about the team’s performance against Bowdoin. He said, “Bowdoin was a team win from the top to the bottom of the ladder as we won matches at the first, second, fourth, fifth, eighth, and ninth spots. Winning in positions throughout the ladder will be critical to our success throughout the season. Being on airplane mode the night before really helped some guys pull through in tough matches.”
Unfortunately, later in the day, the Continentals lost to 19th-ranked Middlebury. The Panthers swept all nine of the positions on the ladder. Chaix had an incredible match; while he ultimately lost the five game duel, he battled throughout. He won the marathon of a first game 22–20 and stayed alive by winning the fourth game. After the matches on Saturday, I sat down with Gerstein to talk about the first couple of weeks of the season. He was feeling really positive after his victory and said, “I think we are all pretty stoked about what’s been going on this season. We beat Tufts, who we lost to last year, in a close 5–4 match and we beat Bowdoin for the first time in our coach’s tenure. We’ve been moving up the rankings and are going into January with high expectations.”
Following two tough losses to start the season against Tufts and Williams, the women’s team was ranked 27th at the start of the weekend. They were underdogs against 26th and 15th ranked Bowdoin and Middlebury, respectively. However, the Continentals got their first win of the season in their first match on Saturday. They beat the Polar Bears 6–3 in a great performance for Hamilton. Although Bowdoin’s top three players all won their matches in three games, the Continentals were not phased.
First-year Liesl Guenther ’21 won her match in four games, including a back and forth, decisive 13–11 victory in the fourth and final game. Katherine Bauer ’18 and Marina Hartnick ’18 didn’t drop a single game in their competitions. Danielle Reisley ’18 beat her opponent in four games and had dominant victories. The total score from her three wins was 33–8. Lindsay Jadow ’19 also won her match in four games, and closed out her victory with an 11–1 victory. Molly Pivirotto ’18 decisively won all three games; Natalie Burkardt ’18 won her exhibition match in three games. Unfortunately, the Continentals were unable to win a single game against Middlebury, who they played later in the day on Saturday.
Both the Men’s and Women’s teams are done with matches for this semester. They will reconvene play over winter break with a trip to California. I asked Nick Conzelman ’20 about the upcoming trip. “It’s always great to travel, especially to a place with beautiful weather, great soda, and good competition. I look forward to an exciting match with Stanford and spending some quality time with the team.” The Continentals hope that both the men’s and women’s teams will build off their strong starts to the season and grow during the winter trip. Ward Urban ’18 shared the team’s outlook on the rest of the season. “The goal for the rest of the season is to finish with a winning record and finish strong with a solid performance at NESCACs on our home courts. Courage, friendship, and above all else an emphasis on resolute sportsmanship is how we will accomplish this goal,” he said.
Both the men’s and women’s teams have several weekends with home matches during the spring semester, so make sure to be on the lookout for the team’s progress. Hamilton will be hosting the NESCAC championships the first weekend of February, the second through the fourth of that month.
