Squash Teams Sweep Columbia, Dartmouth and Colby

IAN MACDONALD ’20
STAFF WRITER
At the Kellner Center this past Friday, the Bantams opened up the weekend against Columbia. In the first matchup, Columbia third year, and No. 6 nationally ranked player, Osama Khalifa was able to defeat Trinity’s Michael Craig ’19, the Lions would not win another game. An impressive performance from Bantams Kush Kumar ’20 helped pave the way to an 8-1 victory.
The women’s team followed suit with the men also defeating Columbia 8-1. In the first seven games of the match, the Bantams did not drop a single game. Captain Raneem Sharaf ’18 continues to dominate court as she defeated Tanvi Khanna, allowing only 13 points in three games. Commanding victories from co-captain Anna Kimberley ’17 and Julia LeCoq ’18 also set the tone for the Trinity victory.
The Bantams came into Saturday with momentum against Dartmouth, and it showed. The men’s team showed no mercy and shut out Dartmouth in a 9-0 victory. This match was routine for the Bantams, with Tom De Mulder ’19 cruising to an easy win, allowing just 16 total points in three games. The thriller of the match came at the No. 8 spot, when after losing the first two games, Trinity’s Nku Patrick ’19 came all the way back to win three games in a row, and keep the shut out going. The women’s team saw much of the same success as the men did; they went on their way to a 7-2 victory over a No. 7 ranked Columbia team.
On Sunday, league opponent Colby, came to the Kellner Center to take on the Bantams. Trinity came out strong and took it to the No. 24 ranked Mules. In their closest match, the Bantams ended the weekend with a 7-2 victory. The women came out to play, and left the weekend with their heads held high after shutting out Colby and leaving the weekend undefeated as well. No woman for the Bantams let up more than nine points total in their individual matches, some of the most imposing victories being those by Alexia Echeverria ’17, who only let up three points, and Phoebe Carlisle ’17 who dominated her opponent, allowing just four total points in her match.
Both teams will take some time off from matches until the New Year, when the men’s team will kick off against the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University on Sunday Jan. 8 and Monday Jan. 9. The women’s team will start the New Year a little later when they take on Franklin & Marshall on Jan. 15.