Dec 2006:
Stanford Men visit Hamilton
Results summary:
Stanford VS. St Lawrence: 5 - 4
Stanford VS. Hamilton: 3 - 6
Stanford VS. Franklin & Marshall: 0 - 9
Stanford VS. Colgate: 9 - 0
The Stanford men's team visited Hamilton College from Dec 1-3 to play at the school's new squash facility. The Cardinal went in ranked 24th in the nation, or last place in the C division, and the squad arrived in Clinton, NY determined to improve their position. The men got right down to business, downing 18th ranked St. Lawrence in a Friday evening match-up. The top half of the Saints' lineup proved strong as Stanford lost hard fought matches at positions 1 through 4. However, Stanford displayed more depth and were able to defeat the Saints at positions 5-9 with the deciding victory coming from "Honest" Abe Chiang in a convincing 3-0 win.
Next up for the Stanford men was the home team, Hamilton College. The 19th ranked Hamilton team was able to hold back the Cardinal in a close competition that had 6 of the 9 matches go to 4 games or more. Stanford players Patrick Bugas, Andy Helpie-Schmeider, and Joe Kirscher won at the 2, 4 and 9 positions respectively. Later that Saturday, the Stanford men took on a strong Franklin & Marshall team. The Cardinal were unable to convert any matches against the 17th ranked F&M team, but sophomore Ned Henningsen played a memorable match at the number one position, losing 9-3 7-9 9-3 10-8. Co-captain David Herbert also put up a fight, losing in 4 games.
To cap off the weekend, the Stanford men played Colgate on Sunday morning. The men posted a shutout against the 38th ranked Colgate team, ending a fun and intense weekend of squash. The team then rushed to the airport to enjoy its previously booked commercial flight, and there was nothing at all exciting about the journey home.
As a result of Stanford's victories during the trip, the men's team moved up in the rankings from 24th to 19th. All of the players look forward to continuing their success in the busy month of January.