Melanie Heller, Contributing Photographer

The Bulldogs have their rackets ready to swing into the 2022-2023 squash season at home at the Brady Squash Center. 

Yale will host the Ivy Scrimmages, the only closed Ivy League event for squash, on Saturday and Sunday. The event always takes place at Yale due to its central location on the East Coast.

“Leading up to scrimmages, we just want to stay sharp and nail down the basics,” Eric Kim ’23, the men’s captain, told the News. “We’re playing three matches in two days, so the biggest thing is taking care of our bodies going into the weekend and making sure we’re in one piece at the end.”

The scrimmages mark the beginning of the season for Ivy League squash but do not count towards official standings. 

Both squads will open their seasons at the University of Virginia on Nov. 12 in Charlottesville, Virginia.

“This weekend, we’re trying to get back into the competitive spirit,” four-time high-school All-American Meghna Sreedhar ’25 said. “This will be a great preparation for our season opener next weekend.”

While many other sports’ standings are determined by conference record, in squash, the national rankings matter the most. Yale and the rest of the Ivy League will play their regular season as they vie for a high rank at Nationals. The results of nationals determine the Ivy League rankings, and consequently the Ivy League champions.

Squash is one of the best nationally-ranked programs at Yale. The men’s team finished No. 3 in the nation last year, and the women’s team finished No. 4.

Kim, who clinched key wins to help the team podium at nationals, is the team’s official captain. However, he is taking a gap semester and will not be playing until he is enrolled again next semester. This will be Kim’s last year playing for the Blue and White. His captaincy counterpart on the women’s team is Brianna Jefferson ’23.

This season, Lynn Leong will coach both the men and women’s squash teams, assisted by Campbell Grayson and Scott Brown as assistant coaches. Leong became the official men and women’s squash coach in May of 2021, but has since served as the senior assistant coach in 2017 and was promoted to associate head coach in 2019. 

“After a long offseason and hours and hours on the courts, I’m really looking forward to seeing all the work pay off, as well as being back supporting all my teammates this weekend,” Brian Leonard ’24 said. “Also, this weekend allows us to evaluate our strengths and weaknesses before the season officially starts the following weekend in our competition versus UVA.”

All eight Ivy League schools finished last season ranked in the top 21 teams in the country, with Yale finishing third.