For both the men’s and women’s squash teams, the beginning of the second half of the season has been a tough road. The women’s team has dropped three matches and won one in January, while the men have lost two and won two. In part, this could be due to the lengthy break that comes between the semesters. On this, captain Eliza Dunham ’20 says, “I think the break we have in the middle of the season is always a struggle but as long as the team is motivated looking forward to the rest of the season – which they are – it’s not too much of an issue.” Hopefully this will prove to be true as the season continues.

Since coming back in January, the women’s team has had matches against Middlebury, Williams, George Washington, and Wesleyan. They lost to the first three, but managed to beat Wesleyan by a score of 7-2. Although this is not the start they would have wanted in the new year, they are excited about what is to come the rest of the season. “I’m feeling really excited for NESCACs especially because since we had a slow start to the season we’re coming in as underdogs for the first time in a while and I think the whole team is excited to surprise everyone,” says Dunham ’20. Clearly, there is a lot of fight left in the team; no one is giving up on the season as a whole.

In their most recent match, the women’s team pulled out a win against Wesleyan, in what will hopefully be the start of a winning streak. In that match, Bates had a strong showing down the ladder, with wins coming from the numbers two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight positions. The only losses were at the one and nine spots. On goals moving forward, Dunham says, “I think our biggest goal for the team is for no one to have regrets. We don’t want the season to end and people on the team feel like they could have done more or played better in certain matches. We want everyone to feel like they gave all they possibly could into this season.” With this win, it seems that the Bobcats are back on track and will have more wins to come.

For the men’s team, winning two and losing two matches in January was not as great as the first semester record of 4-0. They dropped matches to Middlebury and George Washington, but were able to pull out wins against Williams and Wesleyan. In the most recent match, against Wesleyan, they won by a score of 8-1, with everyone winning except for the number one position. Overall the team is now 6-2, in a good spot with four more matches coming up prior to NESCACs in February. Both teams will play next at home against Colby on Wednesday, January 24 at 6pm.