Sports
Squash calls upon young talent
By Robert Berk ’20
November 17, 2016
Tags sports
Hamilton men’s squash team is looking forward to start a new phase of success. It may be tough at first because they did lose five of last year’s top nine. However, the youth on the team is very excited. The team is returning their top two players from last season. Colin O’Dowd ’19 earned NESCAC Second- Team in his freshman campaign. Tucker Hamlin ’17 had a very strong season and is a key leader on this year’s squad.
Last year the team finished with eight wins and 16 losses. They ended the sea- son with a fifth place finish in the Conroy Cup (D Division) and ranked 29th. There were moments when the team flashed it’s potential. In back-to-back matches, the Continentals beat two ranked oppo- nents. First they beat Connecticut Col- lege, which was ranked 17th at the time. Then the team used the momentum from that match to beat Haverford College, which was ranked 18th in the country.
This season, the Continentals brought in six first-years to the team. While this does hurt the team in terms of experience, it helps accelerate the change in the program. The first-years are all over the team’s ladder. The ladder is the order of the best nine play ers on the team; the lower the number, the better the player. During matches a player competes against the correspond- ing player in the opposing team’s ladder. When asked about what it is like to have so many first-years on a 15-man roster, Will Jordan ’20 said, “It has made the ladder a lot more competitive for spots from top to bottom. The intensity shows that the team seems ready to improve upon last year’s results with some key matches early in the season.” Callum Sondhi ’20 is currently the highest first- year on the ladder at the number two spot. Tristan Chaix ’20 is also putting the heat on several returning players, as he is currently fourth.
Due to the influx of youth, Hamlin has had a bigger role than captains do most years. He has been busy helping guide the new players get acclimated to what it is like to be a collegiate squash player. When asked how he was feeling about the upcoming season, Hamlin said, “As the first matches of the season ap- proach, it is hard not to be excited about the outlook. We have six freshmen that contribute both on the court and to the personality of the team. Our team is built around depth, so staying healthy is crucial.”
They are several key returning players that were high in the ladder last year. Sam Matlick ’17 was sixth in the ladder when the year came to a close. Atticus Jones ’19 and Jonathan Ruth ’18 fought all season long to stay in the top nine. James Novick-Smith ’17 and Mark Sperry ’17 look to finish their careers with impressive seasons.
The season is quickly approach- ing and the players are hard at work. Only time will tell if their hard work will result in success. Hamilton’s only Division I team looks to compete with and defeat the best teams in the country.