As the winter sports seasons start to come to an end, The Connecticut College men’s and women’s squash teams competed in the NESCAC championship tournament Feb. 6 through Feb. 9 and will compete in the CSA (College Squash Association) National Championship Valentine’s Day weekend, Feb. 13 through Feb. 15.
In the weeks and months heading up to the NESCAC championship tournament, the Connecticut College women’s squash team fought neck to neck in extremely close matches against many of the strongest teams in the country. The season got off to an unfortunate start when the first seed, Caroline Sargent ’15, suffered a season-ending injury.
Yet, Mawa Ballo, a freshman from Harlem, New York, believes that the injury was “used as motivation” as she said their squad was “one of the best” the Camels have seen. Co-Captain, junior Ashley Arthur, from New York, NY stepped into Sargent’s spot at first seed after being awarded NESCAC Player of the Week in November. The women’s best couple matches were through Jan. 28 through Jan. 31, where they defeated Mount Holyoke, NYU and Dickinson.
Arthur believes their match against Mount Holyoke was one of the teams “strongest performances,” as Mount Holyoke was seeded higher in the national rankings than Conn.
The women’s squad faced some adversity against other NESCAC teams in the championships. They visited Williams College for the Championship to face Hamilton College, Wesleyan and Tufts. The individual matches against these teams were very tight and came down to the line, a final serve or point. Yet, the Camels faced tough loses against these teams. Although, the Camels had three clutch victories in their 3-6 loss against Tufts where Mawa Ballo, sophomore Anne Holly and junior Tori Allen won their final games. Mawa Ballo pulled out a 5 set victory against her third seed match up. Ballo believed she had to “set the tone for the match” with a victory because if she won, everyone else would feel “positive and motivated.”
The Connecticut College women’s squash team is looking forward to the CSA championship. The national squash championship equivalent to the NCAA championships for other varsity sports. The Camels are ranked twenty-seventh in the Women’s College Squash Association Team Rankings as of Feb. 8. They will most likely play in the Epps Cup division of the CSA championships. Ballo is “confident that the team will do well,” and she believes the Epps Cup is a “great chance” for the women’s squash team.
Arthur plans to work on her mental game and thinks that their best chance of winning the cup is by “keeping the team spirit up.”
Going into the NESCAC Squash Championship tournament, the men’s team had won four out of their five last matches with impressive 9-0 sweeps against NYU, Dickinson and Tufts.
Sophomore Matt Lillie from Weston, Massachusetts says the team looks “much stronger than we did in the beginning of the season.” After having strong couple of weeks at the end of January and beginning of February, the squad traveled to Williams College to face the strong seventh seeded Amherst team, dropping an unfortunate 1-8 loss the first round of play.
First year John Dunham, originally from New Haven, Connecticut, won his sixth slot match up 3-2 against Amherst’s sixth slot. The Camels edged out the 11th place tufts squad 8-1. Lillie beat his third seeded opponent against tufts after four games. Lillie believes this win gave seniors Mike Coscarelli’s and Brian Mullen the “extra energy” to win their matches against tufts.
Conn also had a tight match against Hamilton, losing 4-5 overall with a resulting tenth place spot at the NESCAC championships for the men’s squash team. The Camels look forward to the CSA national’s where they will compete in the Conroy Cup. Lillie believes “the team will do well at Nationals” and that they have a serious shot at taking the trophy. •
