The Connecticut College Men’s Squash team just finished a tough weekend in the NESCAC Championships, facing some of the strongest teams in college squash. Senior tri-captain Brendan McClintick positively reflects on the tournament, saying he felt “extremely proud looking back on this weekend.” The Conn men entered the weekend as the last seed, ranked 11 in the NESCAC, and fought through three competitive matches. As the underdog, McClintick admits his team went into the tournament “with plenty to prove,” but he says his teammates played some fantastic squash.
The team started the tournament off with an early match Friday afternoon against Wesleyan, ranked 6th. Conn fell to Wesleyan 0-9 and moved on to the consolation tournament the next day. But the players didn’t let their initial loss deter their spirits and went into their next match Saturday morning ready to fight for a win. Conn defeated Tufts, the 9th ranked team, 5-4, getting revenge after losing to them at home earlier this season.
Against Tufts, with McClintick playing first in the lineup, junior tri-captain Matt Lillie playing third, and first-year Louis Feingold playing eighth, the Camels triumphed; each player won in straight sets. Sophomore John Dunham was also able to cinch a win, while playing fourth, in four sets (6-11, 11-3, 11-4, 11-8). To seize the overall win, senior tri-captain Niccolo Premutico won a competitive five gamer (11-9, 8-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-9).
McClintick commended his team’s attitude going into this match, saying, “Everyone knew that it would take a lot of hard work to pull off the upset… The guys worked really hard.” Conn pulled off the upset and moved on to its second match of the day.
A few hours later, Conn fell to Hamilton in a close 3-6 loss. For the second time on Saturday, John Dunham won at number four and Niccolo Premutico won at number five. Santiago Moran also got his first win of the weekend, playing number six. In the second slot Daniel Reisman lost a 1-3 match, and in the eighth slot Louis Feingold lost a 2-3 match.
Going into the tournament, Hamilton was ranked one spot above Conn in the NESCACS and in national rankings. McClintick explains that Conn always has tight matches with Hamilton and anticipates a match against the school at Nationals. As Conn’s squash team prepares for the final tournament of the season, set to take place the weekend of Feb. 19, McClintick said, “If we are going to beat them it is going to take lots of hard work.”
The latest Dunlop Men Squash Association Team Rankings of the 2015-2016 season puts Connecticut College at the 29 seed. For Conn, the NESCACs were an opportunity to play serious competition and to improve upon its game. With Nationals quickly approaching, Conn has the opportunity to take momentum from its win against Tufts to upset a few more teams and move up a few spots in the national rankings. McClintick said, “The next two weeks we will be training with a very high intensity, making sure that we get in the best shape possible for Nationals.” •
