Men's and women's squash face tough challenge at Drexel

Both the men's and women's squash teams will travel to Philadelphia in the next two days as they face off against host Drexel University. The men's team plays on Tuesday, before the women's team faces-off against Drexel on Wednesday.

The women's squash side started the season in dominant fashion as they easily beat George Washington University in all nine games.

The 9-0 road victory for the women's team will prove to be encouraging as the season goes on, showing both dominance and grit. The women dominated the No. 3 to No. 9 games, with all of the Tigers players sweeping the matches in three sets, with great debuts for freshmen duo Isabel Hirshberg and Kate Feeley. Especially dominant wins included junior Alexandra Toth, who won 11-2, 11-5 and 11-3, and senior Tara Harrington, who won 11-3, 11-5 and 11-4.

The determination of the team showed up in its No. 1 and No. 2 players, as both sophomore Olivia Fiechter and junior Maria Elena Ubina bounced back from dropping sets to claim resounding victories. Fletcher dropped her first two sets 11-9 and 11-6 to Anna Porras, who was ranked 13th in the nation last year, but she stepped up her game when she faced a sweep, winning the remaining three sets on the trot to round off a 9-0 victory for the women.

However, the men's squash side have won one and dropped one so far this season, losing 5-4 to Franklin & Marshall before bouncing back at beating Navy 8-1 at home.

The first loss to Franklin & Marshall was close, but was encouraging nonetheless, as three freshmen got their debut wins in Clark Doyle, Spencer Anton and William Oon. But this proved to be a good springboard for the second game, where the team easily beat Navy by a scoreline of 8-1. There were a few tough games that went the distance, as sophomores Jarryd Osborne and Komron Shayegan were pushed to five sets, and freshman Cody Cortes was defeated in five sets.

This road trip will be a short one for both teams. The men's team will return home to host Williams, St. Lawrence and Rochester this upcoming weekend, whilst the women's team will host Williams and St. Lawrence. All match-ups will be played at Jadwin Squash Courts starting at 1 p.m. on Saturday the Dec. 5.