Men’s squash team competes in Nationals this weekend

The No. 20 men’s squash team will compete in Men’s Nationals this weekend in Cambridge, Mass. Regardless of the outcome, this season has already been a vast improvement over last year for Columbia. Last season, the team finished at No. 35 and competed in the Chaffee Cup (E Division) bracket, where the No. 33 through No. 40 ranked teams matched up.

For Nationals this year, Columbia will compete in the Summers Cup (C Division), two divisions higher than last year. The teams competing in this bracket aside from Columbia are No. 17 George Washington, No. 18 Amherst, No. 19 Bowdoin, No. 21 Wesleyan, No. 22 Colby, No. 23 Stanford, and No. 24 Hamilton.

Columbia has played three of those teams—George Washington, Wesleyan, and Colby. The Light Blue, in its first-ever varsity match, was crushed by George Washington 7-2 back in November, but defeated Colby 7-2 in January and has played two close matches with Wesleyan. The team defeated Wesleyan 5-4 in the same tournament it beat Colby, but also faced Wesleyan two weeks ago in the team’s regular season finale, losing 5-4.

At Nationals, Columbia will start the competition off by playing Wesleyan for a third time. In both contests, Columbia’s highest ranked seeds have struggled against Wesleyan’s top group and Columbia’s lowest seeds have dominated Wesleyan’s lower ladder. For Columbia to emerge with the win in what figures to be another tight contest, it will need to notch a few wins from its top players. In both matches, Columbia’s lone win in the upper ladder came at the No. 3 position.

The contest will take place from Feb. 25 to Feb. 27. The team will play Wesleyan Friday at 11 a.m.