The Amherst men's squash team completed its season this weekend at Princeton University and UPenn by finishing 11th in the nation at the College Squash Association (CSA) Team Champion-ships, despite a car accident on the way there (see "Athlete injured in car crash" on page 3). The Jeffs participated in the Hoehn Division for teams ranked ninth to 16th nationally.

Amherst played extremely well in the first round against NESCAC foe Bowdoin College before falling to Williams College in the semifinals. However, they bounced back to win their 11-12 playoff match on Sunday against Hobart College, finishing their season with a 9-8 overall record.

Their first match against Bowdoin was tied at 2-2 after four matches. However, the Jeffs showed excellent composure and were able to pull out the win, 5-4. Mike Strong '05 had a strong win in the No. 2 slot, while senior co-captain Carlo Valdesolo and sophomore Brian Lawrence had dominating victories in the No. 3 and No. 7 slots, respectively. Although the Jeffs were edged in a few four- and five-game matches, Nick Haslett '06 and classmate Tyler Mixter both had five-game victories in the No. 6 and 9 slots, respectively, to help win the match for Amherst. In the semifinal match against Williams, the Jeffs played hard and gave the Ephs a run for their money before losing 6-3. Valdesolo and Haslett each won their matches while Mixter had the only shutout win for Amherst.

"Although we were up 3-1 after the first four matches and it looked as if we were going to pull off the upset, Williams finished too strong and were able to edge us out of our rightful title," said Strong. Williams went on to lose 5-4 in the finals to Brown University, the eventual Hoehn Division winners.

Trinity College swept the Potter Division (for teams ranked first through eighth) with a trio of impressive shutout wins over Dartmouth College and Harvard and Princeton Universities. The Jeffs concluded Sunday with a 6-3 victory over Hobart College. The trio of Valdesolo, Haslett, and Mixter came through again with shutouts, while Strong, Holodnak and Lawrence had individual victories, to give Amherst the win.

"We entered the nationals ranked 11th and we left the nationals ranked 11th," said Strong. "We got our revenge on Bowdoin who ended up beating us last year at Nationals, but unfortunately, we were not able to take down Williams."

While the team's season has ended, a few players will compete this weekend at the NISRA Singles Championships at Trinity College.