Jeremy Wong '12 participates in the Camel Round Robin on Saturday. Photo by Amy DeGenaro.
The men’s and women’s squash teams may be two of the most overlooked teams on campus; however, this is probably because only a select number of students on this campus understand the sport and all of its intricacies.
Squash is a grueling tennis-like sport played in singles or doubles formation. Unlike tennis, squash is played on an indoor walled-in half-court in which the ball is strategically hit off of the walls and backboard, rather than over a net, requiring a unique combination of hand-eye coordination, agility and speed. As such, the sport and the Camels are quite deserving of more attention for their efforts and successes as a team.
For the Camels squash program, this season began with the introduction of new head coach Chris O’Brien. O’Brien previously coached men’s and women’s tennis at Roger Williams University and the University of Rochester, where he also coached men’s and women’s squash.
“I had no expectations going into the season, as it is my first year coaching this team,” O’Brien said. He still believes “this season has been a success. We gained valuable experience and have a good start to build on for the next few years.”
Earlier this year, the men’s team beat Tufts University 7-2 in the NESCAC Tournament, after losing to the Jumbos 5-4 earlier in the season. The women’s team also had two resounding victories during the Smith College Round Robin against Wellesley College and Northeastern University.
Throughout the season, both the men’s and women’s teams have been plagued with injuries. According to O’Brien, the number of injuries has been the biggest challenge for the Camels this year.
Early in the season, the women’s team was forced to play the bottom half of their line-up because of the number of injuries. Despite being less experienced, O’Brien says they have done an “outstanding job” and have helped the team to their eight victories.
For the men’s squad, Hunter Bolling ’14, Jon Sluder ’14 and Justin Curtis ’14 have made excellent progress this year. According to O’Brien, “[Bolling, Sluder and Curtis] have really stepped up their games in the their first season of competition and their improvement throughout the year has been a great asset to the team.”
Clearly, the depth of the rosters for both squads has been a key component to competition this season.
Although the NESCAC Tournament is over, the season has one major competition left: the National Tournament. Unlike in other sports, each squash team goes to the National Tournament every year.
“The National Tournament is really the culmination of squash,” said O’Brien. “The whole season you are trying to get the highest seed possible in the National Tournament.”
Currently, the men’s team is ranked 27 out of 64 teams and the women’s team is ranked 25 out of 37 teams. The women’s National Tournament is set to take place February 18-20 at Princeton University and the men’s Tournament will be at Harvard University from February 25-27. The Camels’ first-round competitor will not be released until several days prior to the date of competition. •
