Squash teams from Vassar and Trinity traveled to Hanover on Saturday to face the Big Green men and women.
Overall, Dartmouth beat three of its four opponents. Both the men and women shut out Vassar 9-0, while the women also beat Trinity 7-2. The men lost to Trinity 2-7.
Coach Chris Brownell said the men's match against Trinity was not disappointing. "On paper they're a lot stronger [than us]," she said. "There were a lot of 3-1 matches."
While the score looked one-sided, "it could have been 4-5," she said. "We potentially could have won."
Brownell said the men have been consistently in the middle of competition and that none of their defeats have been overwhelming. The team will have a few more opportunities to show its strength.
According to Brownell the match against Franklin and Marshall will be similar to this weekend's match against Trinity.
Will Leicht '99 and Bill Tarr '98 came through with the two victories for the men, Leicht at number six and Tarr at number eight.
Brownell said the men's lineup is very fluid between spots two and four and also between five and nine. She said she enjoys the objectivity of determining the lineup with challenge matches because they are a concrete way of determining the position at which players should compete.
In the team championships at the end of the season the men will face either Brown or Yale. "You never know what can happen," Brownell said. She said that it is easy to become "overconfident" and that the Dartmouth men will be ready to jump at any opportunity for victory.
The women's impressive victory against Trinity was their third in a row, having beaten Amherst last week and Middlebury the week before. It was also their first victory over Trinity since 1981.
Going in to the match the women were tied for fifth in the division with Trinity. According to Brownell, Trinity has been in the top three for the last 15 years. She said the Trinity program is always very strong.
"Three years ago we only won one game against them," Brownell said. "Two years ago and last year we won one match. This year things have turned around."
"Our kids played really well," Brownell added. "The score looks one-sided but a couple of [players] pulled it out in the fifth game."
Laurie Sykes '99 had perhaps the most exciting match against Trinity's number one, who was chosen for second-team all-American honors. Sykes came out strong in the final game with a decisive 9-4 victory.
Brownell said both the men's and women's matches against Vassar were decisive wins. Vassar has been set back by the turnover to a new head coach this year.
"They have a young program," Brownell said. With more recruiting done in the future she expects them to improve.
Dartmouth's assistant coach, Shireen Kaufman, played squash for Vassar until her graduation in 1995.
Saturday "was a big day for Dartmouth squash" across the board, Brownell said.
The next match for the Big Green will be at home against Princeton Feb. 3. The men will play at 12:00 p.m. and the women at 3:00 p.m.
