Squash falls to two Ivy schools | The Triangle

Squash falls to two Ivy schools

It was bound to be tougher the second time around for Drexel Squash. That much was known before the season started for both the men’s and women’s squads. They both had to begin their campaigns with a slate that included four games in 13 days from Nov. 16 to Nov. 28 against four ranked opponents in Franklin & Marshall College (Nov. 16), Connecticut College (Nov. 17), Princeton University (Nov. 18) and the University of Pennsylvania (Nov. 28). As tough as those fixtures looked theoretically, they turned out to be far more trying in actuality. Both teams lost three out of their first four games, with losses on the road to Franklin & Marshall and Princeton and to Penn at home. It was the dual home opener against Connecticut College that saw the Dragons come out with wins.

That being said, those losses were not a case of the Dragons lacking a competitive edge but simply a scenario in which the opposing teams were playing at a level that couldn’t have been matched by any other team at that time, let alone Drexel. The men lost their three matches by a total margin of 24-3, while the women lost theirs 26-1. Yet it has to be said that the bright spots during this early-season stretch, the matches against Connecticut College, were very encouraging. The women had perhaps their best win in the relatively short time that the program has been in existence, thrashing Connecticut College 8-1. All eight of their wins were dominating fashion, occurring strictly in straight sets. The nature of the victory surely played a part in their jump in the College Squash Association rankings, rising from No. 32 to No. 23. The men’s team also posted a convincing victory over Connecticut College as well, blanking them 9-0. The win saw them advance in the CSA rankings from No. 26 to No. 24

Next for Drexel is a dual match Nov. 30 at Amherst College. As with all of Drexel’s opponents so far in the 2012-13 season, the Amherst men’s and women’s teams are ranked nationally, with the men standing at No. 22 and the women at No. 19. Despite the early-season issues at hand, the hope is that these issues are merely introductory cracks — cracks that can easily be fixed as the season goes on.