Historically, Tufts University has had very strong squash teams, but this year both the men and women's teams are hoping to take it to the next level.
They got off to a pretty good start in a series of matches at Dartmouth and Harvard held over the weekend.
The men, facing some of the top teams in the nation, went 2-3 against both NESCAC and national competition. They lost a tight match to Colby (4-5) on Sunday afternoon at Harvard and fell by a larger margin to Williams (8-1) earlier in the day.
Playing shorthanded because one of their top players is abroad, they managed impressive victories over George Washington (5-4) and Middlebury (6-3) on Saturday at Dartmouth. They also fell to Navy (9-0) on Saturday.
On Sunday, the women had a big win against Colby (7-2) and fell to a strong Williams squad (0-9) at Harvard. On Saturday the Lady Jumbos lost to Bates (0-9), while defeating Connecticut College (7-2).
The records for both teams were not outstanding, but they were facing stiff competition. Both the men and women's teams at Bates and Williams rank among the top 10 teams in the country. Unlike most Tufts sports, squash teams are not separated by division, so Tufts was forced to face bigger schools with stronger recruiting programs. Given this, coach Doug Eng was very pleased with the performance of his teams.
Eng noted that the women are particularly strong at the top and bottom portions of the lineup.
"We have very strong number one, two and three players, and we also have a lot of depth. Nicole Arens, Eliza Drachman-Jones, Rhonda Barkan and Liz Thys are going to be very tough for teams at the bottom," Eng said.
Drachman-Jones, a senior and one of this year's co-captains, was encouraged by her team's start to the season.
"Overall I think we performed really well this weekend," she said. "Bates and Williams are really tough teams, and a lot of our newer players may not have been used to that level of play, but in our last match against Colby we were beat up and tired but we put everything into it."
"That match was huge for us," Drachman-Jones continued. "It was the first time we have beaten them in four years."
The Jumbos were led by sophomore Erica Adler, who won 3-0 against Colby at the No. 2 spot. Freshman Rebecca Rice was victorious at the three spot and senior Nida Ghouse notched a victory at No. 5.
All of the matches at the lower part of the lineup also went to the Jumbos. Drachman-Jones, Thys, Barkan and freshman Micela Leis won at the sixth through ninth spots, respectively.
Sophomore Jules Avrutin went 1-3, playing against some of the top squash competition in the nation at the No. 1 spot.
Eng was equally effusive in his praise for the male Jumbos.
"The freshmen played fearlessly this week," he said. "Jake Gross is a top 10 player in the country. He's probably the closest player we've had to an All-American in 15 years."
Eng felt that the victory over George Washington was the most important match of the weekend, while the team's performance against Colby also showed potential for the future.
"The win over George Washington was real big for us," Eng said. "They are ranked 20th in the nation."
"Colby is ranked 19th," Eng said. "Both our teams haven't beaten Colby in 11 or 12 years; I would've loved to have done that, and we came very close to it."
The freshmen helped carry the Jumbos to victory against George Washington. Gross won at the No. 1 spot, and freshman Kris Leetavorn won in five games at the No. 2 spot. Kriete won in three games at No. 5, and sophomore David Linz emerged victorious in a five game battle at the No. 6 spot. Freshman Lee Kellogg rolled to victory at the nine spot without losing a point.
In the 4-5 loss to Colby, the four victories for Tufts came from freshmen. Gross won again at No. 1, while Nelson Schubart was victorious at No. 3. Jonah Peppiatt and Kellogg won at the eight and nine spots respectively.
"This weekend was something good to build on," Eng said. "We're off to a good start."
Eng singled out the captain of the men's team, senior Fernando Kriete, for his inspired play.
"Fernando showed a lot of heart against Colby," Eng said. "He came back from two games down, but he couldn't quite put him away in the fifth game. It would have been nice to have a win over Colby, but I think if we played them again we'll beat them because we were missing some guys."
"We're a young team, so I think it's important to set a good example and play extremely hard," Kriete said. "I'm the only senior on the team, so a lot of that falls on me."
The men will only get stronger when junior co-captain Spencer Maxwell returns from a semester abroad. Maxwell projects to play at the No. 2 or 3 position for the Jumbos. The Lady Jumbos will have even more depth when juniors Joelle Polivy and Sarah Lucas return from abroad as well.
Eng has high expectations for both teams for the upcoming season.
"I think the men can win the Summers Division," Eng said. "The Summers Division consists of teams ranked from 17-24; we'd like to qualify for the Hoehn Division, which is one level above that. In order to do that, we'd need to be ranked at least 16th, but it's doable."
"The women have a shot at qualifying for the Kurtz Division, which is the second highest level," he continued. "We haven't reached that high in a few years. We're going to have a very good year. We're a team to beat and the women know how good they are. I'd say it's the best team we've had in five years."<$>
