Men’s squash takes the C-flight at Nationals in New Haven

While the Panthers had hoped to climb into the B-flight this season, a second C-flight championship in as many years is quite an accomplishment. After a season in which the 17th-ranked Panthers played teams ranging from fourth-ranked Princeton to 50th-ranked Bard, the men traveled to Yale and successfully defended their C-flight crown.

College squash nationals are broken down into flights of eight teams. Unlike NCAA-sanctioned sports, squash does not have divisions that separate David and Goliath. But, in their stead, flights at nationals allow teams of similar caliber to compete for a title, as opposed to the right to lose to a powerhouse somewhere in the bracket. Middlebury entered the tournament as the first seed in the C-flight, looking to repeat last year’s title victory.

The first match of nationals was against 24th-ranked Denison on Friday. More of a warm-up than real competition, the Panthers quickly dispatched the Big Red, 8-1. A day later, Middlebury took care of 20th-ranked George Washington, 6-3, in a match that Middlebury dominated more than the score reveals. While the flights help to group talent, squash is still a very stratified sport.

“We never take anyone lightly,” said captain Simon Keyes ’10, “but we knew Amherst was going to be the real test at the end.”

A test it was.

Having beaten Amherst twice during the regular season — including a 7-2 destruction in the NESCAC tournament — the Panthers knew this team well. But, steeled by revenge and the return of their number-four player on the ladder, Amherst put up a much better fight this time.

“Amherst really came hard this time in pursuit of the title, and even though many of our players were not on their best day, we all worked very hard to win the match,” said #1 Valentin Quan ’12.

The Amherst #4 returned to play after missing the whole season due to injury. Less a play to win the #4 match, this move strengthened the bottom of the lineup. Amherst, it seemed, thought it could sacrifice at the top in order to claim some wins at the bottom. After the first three matches –— #3, 6, and 9 — Middlebury had a 2-1 lead thanks to the consistently superb play from #3 Brian Cady ’11 and a gutsy performance by #9 Will Piekos ’11 that Eliot Jia ’10 described as “dominant, especially against a guy he had lost to earlier in the season.”

Following the games at #2, 5 and 8, the teams were dead even at three apiece. Though all three seniors lost their matches, Quan was quick to point out that “the leadership of Simon [Keyes], Eliot [Jia] and Micah [Wood ’10] was very important to keep us up during the match.” After Spencer Hurst ’13 earned a win at #4, putting Middlebury up 4-3, both Quan and Addi Disesa ’12 found themselves down 2-0. With the match and the championship on the line, both players rallied and forced five games. While Disesa fell in the fifth, Quan showed his mettle as a true #1 and captured the victory for the Panthers.

Claiming a second C-flight championship in two years, Middlebury is establishing itself in the squash world. The end of this campaign truly marks the beginning of Head Coach John Illig’s squash program.

“Simon, Micah and I are the last class that was here for our club squash days, and it’s great to see how much we’ve progressed in the last few years,” said Jia. “Hopefully, by next year we will be able to make it into the B-flight and keep moving up in the rankings.”