The Drexel University men’s and women’s squash teams traveled to upstate New York this past weekend to take on Cornell University Jan. 21, and Hobart and William Smith College Jan. 22.
Drexel’s women’s squash team, ranked 15 in the nation, split its matches over the weekend, beginning with an 8-1 loss to No. 8 Cornell.
The only Dragon win against the Big Red came due to a default in the fifth spot.
In the No. 1 position, junior Ryan Morgan fought hard through five games against Cornell’s Michele Garceau. Ryan dropped the first two games, then came back to win the third and the fourth. However, she could not hold on in the fifth game.
The Dragons bounced back from their loss on Saturday and swept the William Smith Herons the next day. After the weekend, the Dragons’ record improved to 4-8.
All nine Dragons won their matches against the Herons and eight of the nine swept their opponents in three games.
“The women are on a little low at the moment after seeing their ranking drop to 15. It is a minor setback that can be turned around with a win over Dartmouth this weekend. Our main goal this weekend is Dartmouth. Yale will be a good warm-up for them on the Friday to get their minds focused and game plans set for the more important match against Dartmouth,” coach John White said.
On the men’s side, Drexel won two out of their three matches on the road.
The men lost 6-3 against the Rochester University Yellowjackets Jan. 20.
Senior Michael Thompson, junior Luke Willemse, and freshman Mostafa Aboul Makarim all secured victories for the Dragons.
Thompson’s win in the fourth spot gave him a total of 50 career wins, making him the winningest Drexel squash player of all time.
Following the loss to Rochester, the Drexel men’s team defeated the Cornell Big Red 7-2 Jan. 21.
Sophomores Omar El Atmas and Bransten Ming swept their opponents in three games in the first and second spots.
Thompson, junior Atticus Kelly, Willemse, junior Joshua Hughes, and Makarim all defeated their opponents to give Drexel seven wins for the day.
The Dragons won their second match of the weekend with a 9-0 sweep of the Hobart Statesmen Jan. 22, which improved Drexel’s record to 8-4.
The men will look to continue forward in a victorious manner as they face off against No. 4-ranked Yale .
“Players on the team need to realize the Yale players are just another player on court and not to look at them as better players just because they are higher ranked. The team has a very good chance of a victory if they go on and play their game from the very first point and also keeping the pressure on when they are in control,” coach White said.
The men and women will face off next against Yale University Jan. 27 and Dartmouth College Jan. 29, with both matches at home at the Kline & Specter Squash Center. Coach White thinks focusing on the basics will help take the team to another level.
“The men’s team will be doing the same at training this week, as they did last week for the Rochester/Cornell weekend, to prepare them for this weekend’s matches. Going back to the basics helped them a lot for last weekend’s matches so we will be sticking to the same training leading up to Yale.”