Yale Athletics

Both the men’s (7–3, 3–3 Ivy) and women’s (5–5, 3–3 Ivy) squash teams competed in their last two Ivy matches of the season on Saturday and Sunday before rallying on Wednesday to host Trinity College at the Brady Squash Center. 

The men’s team fell to the University of Pennsylvania (13–1, 4–1 Ivy) on Saturday and Princeton University (6–1, 4–1 Ivy) on Sunday. The women’s team beat Pennsylvania (5–6, 1–4 Ivy)  and lost to the Tigers (6–2, 3–2 Ivy).

The men’s team competed against the Quakers away at the Penn Squash Center in Philadelphia with many close matches. Brian Lenord ’24 had a tight match, ultimately losing with a score of 3–2. 

On Sunday, the men traveled to Princeton to compete against the Tigers at the Jadwin Squash Courts. The Bulldogs fell to the Tigers with a close final score of 4–5. 

“Going into the weekend against Penn and Princeton, the team was extremely motivated to show our talent and depth against two of the toughest programs in the country,” assistant coach Tate Miller wrote to the News. “The matches we lost were by the finest margins, that’s the nature of squash at this level. Our focus the next couple weeks leading up to CSA Championships is different for each player, but with the intention of closing those margins and getting a foot up on our opponents.”

The women’s team traveled to Philadelphia on Saturday and beat Pennsylvania 7–2. The Bulldogs have been victorious over the Quackers for the past four years. 

On Sunday, the women traveled to compete against Princeton in New Jersey. The women fell to the Tigers with a final score of 1–8. The women fought hard, with Christy Lau ’25 having a close match of 2–3.

“My highlight from the past three matches is the overall quality of squash that everyone is playing,” Elisabeth Ross ’24 wrote to the News. “While the results have not been going the way we want, everyone is fighting for each point and making each individual game score very close. We have two more weeks of training before nationals, and with this final push I’m excited to see what we can do at nationals.”

On Wednesday, the men beat Trinity College (12–4, 0–0 NESCAC) 6–3, making it the Bulldogs first win against the Bantams in 10 years. Wednesday also marked the squash squads’ senior night celebration. 

“To beat Trinity for the first time in 10 years in my last home match is special and something I will never forget,” Eric Kim ’23 wrote to the News. “David [Tsai ’23] and I couldn’t have asked for a better senior day and we’re so proud of this team for bouncing back after a tough weekend. We proved to ourselves that we are right up there with the best teams but we’ve still got a lot of work to do before nationals in 3 weeks.”

The Bulldogs fought hard for the win, with Maxwell Orr ’25, Max Forster ’25 and Kim winning their matches with a close score of 3–2 against the Bantams. 

The women fell to Trinity (13–0, 0–0 NESCAC) on Wednesday. The women fought hard against the undefeated No.1 Bantams but ultimately fell with a final score of 1–8. 

Wednesday night’s game celebrated the four graduating seniors Kim, David Tsai ’23, Brianna Jefferson ’23 and Julia Zhukovets ’23 for their last home game at the Brady Squash Center. 

Looking ahead, the men will travel to Western and Rochester to compete on Saturday the 11th and Sunday the 12th, respectively.

Both the men’s and women’s teams are getting ready for the College Squash Association Nationals Championship that will be held at the end of February and the beginning of March. 

BETSY GOOD
Betsy Good was the editor for the sports desk her junior year. Currently she covers men's and women's squash. She has also previously covered the women's field hockey, men's and women's squash and men's baseball teams for the sports desk. She is a senior in Pierson College from Cincinnati, Ohio, majoring in History.