Yale Athletics

This weekend, the Yale men’s squash team (10–3, 3–3 Ivy) competed in the College Squash Association Team Championship to close out their team season. 

The men competed at Trinity College’s George A. Kellner Squash Courts in Hartford, Connecticut. The Bulldogs entered the tournament as the No. 4 seed and finished third in this year’s Potter Cup with wins over the University of Virginia (13–4, 0–0 MASC) and the University of Pennsylvania (16–3, 5–1 Ivy). 

“The past weekend proved that we are one of the best teams in the country,” assistant coach Tate Miller wrote to the News. “The squash that the men played was absolutely brilliant and all of them should be proud of the teamwork and passion that they displayed, and we will be going into the offseason with plenty of confidence for next season.”

The Bulldogs played the Cavaliers back in November to start Yale’s 2022-2023 regular season, beating UVA with the same score of 6–3. 

On Saturday, the Bulldogs played in the semifinals against the undefeated No. 1 Harvard University team (16–0, 6–0 Ivy). The Blue and White fell to the Crimson 6–3. There were many close matches against the Crimson, with Brian Leonard ’24 and Maxwell Orr ’25 both losing their matches with a tight scoreline of 2–3. 

On Sunday, the Bulldogs competed in the 3/4 playoffs against the University of Pennsylvania and played their last matches of the tournament. The men had a hard fight and rallied to beat the Quakers 5–4, which placed them third in the tournament. 

“The team showed incredible grit and resilience on Sunday in the 3/4 playoff after losing to Harvard in a heartbreaking semifinal,” Nikhil Ismail ’24 wrote to the News. “We were able to bounce back from that loss and take down a team that we hadn’t beaten in 7 years in what was a true team effort. Everyone from positions 1–14 contributed to our success this season on and off the court and I think this weekend proved that.”

Ismail was last on for the Bulldogs in a game-deciding match, with the Bulldogs and the Quakers tied 4–4. He battled to beat his opponent 3–2, turning the victory over to the Bulldogs. Merritt Wurts ’25 played an important role for the Bulldogs by also winning with a close match of 3–2. 

This was an exciting win for the Blue and White, as the men broke their 10-match losing streak against the Quakers. 

“We proved to ourselves that we belong up there with the best teams in the country,” team captain Eric Kim ’23 wrote to the News. “It’s been a privilege to captain this group of guys this year. They made my job easy and although we didn’t reach our goal of winning a national championship, I’d rather lose with this team than win with another.”

Kim is the only graduating senior seeded in the top nine. 

Looking ahead, some of the Bulldogs will compete in the CSA Individual and Doubles Championships at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during the weekend of March 1.