SQUASH: Men’s and women’s squash round out Ivy competition over weekend, women fall to Trinity in mid-week match
This weekend, the men’s and women’s squash teams played their last two Ivy matches of the season against Pennsylvania and Princeton, and the women’s team traveled to compete against Trinity in a midweek match.
Yale Athletics
Both the men’s (8–2, 5–2 Ivy) and women’s (6–3, 4–2 Ivy) squash teams competed in their last two Ivy matches of the season on Saturday and Sunday. The women’s squash team then hit the road on Wednesday to face Trinity College (11–0, 0–0 NESCAC) in Hartford.
The men’s team fell to the University of Pennsylvania (12–1, 5–0 Ivy) on Saturday, but ended the weekend with a victory against Princeton University (7–2, 4–1 Ivy) on Sunday.
On Saturday, the men’s team took on the Quakers at the Brady Squash Center in a series of close matches, ultimately falling 7–2. It was a hard-fought match, as Penn is ranked No. 1 and had been undefeated all season until their loss to Trinity College (13–0, 0–0 NESCAC) on Feb. 4.
On Sunday, the men rallied against Princeton, beating the Tigers with a dominant 7–2 win.
Sunday night’s game celebrated the three graduating seniors: Yee Xian Siow ’24, Brian Leonard ’24, and Jed Burde ’24 for their last home game at the Brady Squash Center.
“From this weekend, we had a tough loss against Penn, but I feel like we collectively rallied as a team and played with a lot of confidence and enthusiasm going into the Princeton match,” Lachlan Sutton ’27 wrote to the News. “We are always in each other’s corners, win or lose, and that helps us play to the best of our abilities and get these big wins.”
Siow, in his last point of his last match at the Brady Squash Center, hit an outright winner to beat his Princeton opponent in his final match at home as a Bulldog. It was an emotional moment for the Blue and White, as Siow has played No. 1 on the ladder for both his junior and senior years.
On Saturday, the women’s team competed against Penn (10–3, 3–2 Ivy), securing a hard-fought 6–3 win. The Bulldogs have been victorious over the Quakers for the past six years.
On Sunday, the women competed against Princeton (8–2, 4–1 Ivy) but fell to the Tigers with a final score of 2–7. The women put up a good fight, though, with Christy Lau ’25 and Mika Bardin ’26 winning their matches 3–2.
Sunday night’s game celebrated the three graduating seniors: Elisabeth Ross ’24, Gigi Yeung ’24 and Sneha Sivakumar ’24 for their final home game at the Brady Squash Center.
“I think this past weekend really emphasized for our team that we are capable of competing at a high level against top ranked teams,” Meghna Sreedhar ’25 wrote to the News. “Knowing this will help motivate us through Nationals in a couple of weeks.”
On Wednesday, the women concluded their regular season with a match against Trinity College (11–0, 0–0 NESCAC), falling 8–1. Lindsay Westerfield ’25 clinched a victory in the No. 9 spot, while Ross, Yeung and Rashi Goverdhanam ’27 all displayed strong efforts, narrowly missing out with five games apiece.
“As a team, we have been working hard on physical, mental and technical aspects of the game,” Sivakumar wrote to the News. “The focus these next few weeks leading up to Nationals will definitely be on pushing our physical fitness up another level as well as mental fitness.”
Looking ahead, the men will travel to Hartford on Friday to compete against Trinity for their last match of the 2023-24 season.
Both the men’s and women’s teams are getting ready for the College Squash Association National Championships that will be held at the end of February and the beginning of March.