MEN'S SQUASH WINS CUP
February 22, 2010
The Middlebury College men's squash team captured the Summers Cup (C flight) at the recent Team Championships hosted by Yale. Middlebury defeated Denison 8-1, George Washington 6-3 and Amherst 5-4 to win the title. The Panthers end the season with a school-record 20 wins, against just seven losses. In just its third season as a varsity sport, the Panthers end the season ranked 17th nationally among 63 teams in all divisions. Rookies Jay Donlan and Spencer Hurst finished the weekend with 3-0 marks.
In the finals of Team Nationals vs. Amherst, Middlebury started out strong by going up 2-1 after the first round of matches, with a win for junior Brian Cady at #3, a loss for senior Eliot Jia at #6, and a win from junior Will Piekos at #9. Piekos' 3-0 at #9 was notable as he'd lost to his opponent earlier in the season.
With matches #2, #5 and #8 going on next, #2 first-year player Jay Dolan won quickly, but #5 senior Micah Wood and #8 sophomore Addi DiSesa were defeated. With six matches played, the score was tied at 3-3 with matches #1, #4 and #7 remaining.
Things were not looking good for Middlebury when #1 sophomore Valentin Quan went down 2-0 in his best-of-five, and #7 Addi DiSesa trailed 2-0 in his match. Meanwhile, #4 rookie Spencer Hurst was headed into his fifth and final game, which he was able to win by a score of 11-6.
Middlebury now led 4-3, but trailed 2-0 in the final two matches. DiSesa battled back to win his third and fourth games and tie his match at 2-2. He reached two match points in his final game, but lost 12-10 in the fifth game tie-breaker, and the overall score as the match was knotted at 4-4.
#1 Valentin Quan silenced the Amherst fans as he came from behind to win his match 9-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-6 to give Middlebury the 5-4 victory. Quan ended a big season for the Panthers, going 22-5 overall including a 3-0 mark at the NESCAC Tourney
Complete results: http://www.middlebury.edu/athletics/sports/menssquash/archive/2009-2010/news/node/250484
• Men's squash record: 20-7
• Up next: 2/26-28 - women @ team nationals (Yale)
