"There were so many close teams this year that the [College Squash Association] may take a closer look at who beat who and perhaps the margin of the wins, as well,"assistant coach Kelsey Engman said in an email to the Daily after a pair of losses by the women's squash team this weekend. "We're keeping our fingers crossed that we land in the B division."
Yesterday, those wishes were answered.
As of Monday morning, the CSA bumped Tufts up from the No. 17 to the No. 16 spot in the national rankings, moving the Jumbos ahead of NESCAC rival Amherst even though Tufts lost a pair of matches this weekend.
The news means that the Jumbos will participate in the Kurtz Cup, the challenging B Division of Nationals. The Jeffs still have time to appeal the rank swap, and Tufts can argue the validity of the change.
The Jumbos fell from the No. 12 spot to the No. 17 spot last week, putting them on the bubble for a chance at the B Division, as only teams ranked No. 9-No. 16 are allowed to compete. But the flip-flop in the rankings gave Tufts new life.
"Right now in current rankings this week we went up,"coach Doug Eng said. "I don't know why because Amherst didn't get any losses this weekend, but I think they're re-looking at the matches and how we split. They're often a little more subjective with the women. With the men's you look at the exact results and add the totals up, and with the women's it's more subjective and usually look at all the matches."
Because Tufts and Amherst split matches, the committee most likely looked at how each team compared against common opponents. Tufts easily beat Middlebury 8-1, while Amherst had a far more difficult time, squeaking by 5-4. Against Hamilton, Tufts fell by a narrow 6-3 margin, while Amherst struggled mightily, losing 8-1 on Jan. 21 and 7-2 on Feb. 2.
"[The CSA committee] looks at the ability of what you can possibly do," Eng said. "They might be looking at results against similar teams. Maybe a couple coaches think we are better than Amherst. Matchups matter a lot. I'm not sure if Amherst is going to appeal, but [the committee] wouldn't make that change unless there was a good reason."
The good fortune puts the Jumbos in the Kurtz Cup for the first time since 2005, when 16th-ranked Tufts lost all three of its matches against stiff competition. The past two seasons, the Jumbos have participated in C-Division Walker Cup, going a combined 2-4.
