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The Tufts Daily
Where you read it first | Thursday, March 28, 2024

Men's, women's teams fall to Bates

2014-01-29-Mens-Squash-against-Boston-College
The men's squash teams' new year got off to a tough start with a 9-0 loss against Bates.

Tuesday was a tough day for both men's and women's squash teams, as both squads lost road matches at Bates to kick off the second half of their seasons.

The men's team was shut out 9-0 for the second straight occasion, falling to 2-6 on the season. The Jumbos are in a bit of a rut, having been blanked in three of their past four games, and were not able to overcome a formidable Bobcats squad.

"Bates is a very strong team," sophomore Owen Elliot said, who enjoyed his best match of the season. "It was not so much us falling short on that day as much as we need more time to develop and improve."

Senior co-captain Elliot Kardon agreed that there was no question as to which team was superior.

"Our team played well," he said. "But [Bates] was just at a totally different level."

Despite the disappointing final result, Kardon saw several positives during the lopsided contest.

"We had some great highlights," Kardon told the Daily in email. "Our No. 1, [junior] Aditya Adani, nearly got a game off the Bates No. 1, who is one of the top five collegiate squash players in the country. We saw some really close games throughout the ladder as well even though no one managed to take a game."

The women's team fared better, but still lost 6-3. The defeat dropped its record to 2-9.

"Bates is a very strong program with more depth than us," senior tri-captain Ann Bellinger said. "They are currently ranked No. 15 in the CSA [College Squash Association]. Despite the 6-3 loss, our players looked very strong and didn't go down without a fight."

The three individual Jumbo victories came from Anna Bezahler, a sophomore, along with first-years Lauren Banner and Gabi Salomon. All won their individual matches in three games. Senior tri-captain Paige Dahlman turned in a tremendous effort as well, but lost three closely contested games by scores of 11-8, 11-9, and 11-9.

Dahlman, while conceding that Bates submitted a stronger performance, remained impressed by the all-around effort from her teammates and felt that Tufts played its best game of the season.

"Bates ... was at an advantage -- especially because Tuesday was their senior night," she said. "We knew that we were the underdogs going into that match, but we managed to pull out three matches thanks to Gabi [Salomon], Lauren [Banner] and Anna [Bezahler], who had some solid wins that probably made Bates a little nervous. Collectively as a team, this match against Bates was the best match that I have seen us play this season. I saw a fantastic exertion of effort from each person."

Both teams' most recent wins were at Vassar on Dec. 5, and they will try to get back on track this Friday against Haverford. That will be no easy task, however, as the Haverford men's team is 5-2 while the women's team is riding a four-game winning streak. Nevertheless, both Tufts teams are confident in their abilities to shake off their most recent defeats and rise to the challenge against tough opponents.

"We are really confident going forward into the weekend," Kardon said. "Bates is a great way to practice skills for our closer ranked matches this weekend, particularly against Haverford. We've historically beaten Haverford, and we look forward to proving ourselves again against them."

"For Friday’s match against Haverford, we hope to ride out that Bates energy and get a solid win," Dahlman said. "We have met Haverford numerous times in the past and primarily with wins, yet they have progressed significantly since we last played. With that said, we’ll be going into that match with a keen focus on playing our own game and not letting past results affect our mentality."