At the end of the fall season, the men's squash team eagerly awaited the return of two key players: Juniors Hugo Meggitt and Zachary Schweitzer. Both studied abroad in their fall semesters, leaving the Jumbos without two of their top players as they played a fall schedule that resulted in a single win.
Once second semester began, the wins started to roll in.
In the first eight matches of its winter season, Tufts went 3-5 against top teams, including No. 35 Denison, No. 40 Haverford, and No. 53 Vassar.
The match against Denison was the season opener, and proved to be a challenge for the team's stamina. The players had to compete in three matches in one day.
Against Denison, Tufts pulled off an impressive 6-3 victory in which the top-five players notched wins. Sophomore No. 1 AdityaAdvani had the cleanest win of the day, 11-9, 11-8, 11-9. The sixth win came at the No. 7 position from senior Jeremy Aronson, who also had a decisive victory, 11-9, 11-7, 11-8.
Later on the same day, the team traveled to Drexel to play, where they first matched up against the Drexel Dragons, and played the Bucknell Bison in the same location. The match against Drexel was a 9-0 loss, but Tufts played a much closer match against Bucknell, in which Tufts lost three of its matches in four or more sets and lost overall, 7-2.
The Jumbos were able to capitalize on early-season momentum with wins over their next two opponents. Tufts beat Haverford on Jan. 19, and followed that victory up the next weekend with a dominating 9-0 performance against Vassar.
The next three matches were all close loses against Colby, Connecticut College and Boston College. The loss against Boston College was especially rough because of the rivalry that Boston schools have in squash.
"We want to beat rivals," Schweitzer said. "It's one of the key tenets of the Tufts squash team."
Next up for the team was the NESCAC Championship at Hamilton College. While the team as a whole went home winless, Advani and Schwietzer were able to win two of their three matches. It wasn't easy, however, as both players were extended to more than three games in each match.
Following another difficult loss to in-state rival Northeastern, 5-4, the top players on the team had a chance to showcase their talents at the Div. III Individual Championships, which put the talents of the team on full display.
Advani, and Schweitzer both competed in the A draw, and the pair was joined by freshman Josh Lee who competed in the B draw. Advani advanced after a routine win against Bates sophomore CaranArora, before falling to Bowdoin senior Stephen Danyluk in the second round of play. Schweitzer and Lee both fell in the first round of the tournament.
Despite the first round loss, Schweitzer views Lee as an important contributor to the team moving forward.
"Josh is a great kid and a great player," Schweitzer said. "His two shining qualities are his dedication on court, and his steadfast religiosity off court."
After a strong showing at the Individual Championships, the team played two local schools in a row: Boston University and Northeastern. Against Boston University, the team notched its fifth win of the year with a clinical 7-2 victory. Once again, Tufts fell just short against Northeastern, losing 5-4 before rebounding quickly to beat Denison, 6-3, the day after in its season finale.
In the offseason, the players will train in hopes of improving on their solid performances this season.
"We've already started lifting, and I'm ... proud of the hustling so far," Schweitzer said. "These are the kind of ... moves that a potentially big team has to make."
Lee wants to make sure he puts in the time and the effort that is required to be able to compete against other top squash schools.
"My goal this offseason is to work a lot on strengthening and conditioning," Lee said. "The time I have spent on the athletic field is relatively short compared to other college athletes. Hence, I am looking to cut the gap between them by putting quality hours in this off-season."
For a team that will return its top six players next season, a strong level of offseason commitment will make a big difference moving forward, and could potentially propel Tufts into the upper echelon of New England squash teams.
