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With a loss in late February to No. 11 St. Lawrence in the third-fourth place match of the Hoehn Cup—the premier B Division postseason tournament at the College Squash Association (CSA) Team Championships—Virginia men’s squash finished their season ranked as the nation’s 12th best team with a record of 16-7.
Just as the case with the women’s team, the 2018-19 season was just the second season for the men in Division I. Mark Allen, an accomplished squash player and coach prior to coming to Charlottesville, also served as their head coach.
Overall, the team compiled 10 wins over opponents listed inside the top 20 of the Dunlop College Squash Rankings, including two come-from-behind victories over Ivy League competition. Both accomplishments were firsts for the program.
UVA Men’s Squash Two Year Results
Two Year Results
| Year | Record | Versus D-I Teams | Postseason Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Record | Versus D-I Teams | Postseason Result |
| 2018-2019 | 16-7 | 13-7 | Hoehn Cup (B Division) - Fourth Place |
| 2017-2018 | 15-8 | 8-8 | Hoehn Cup (B Division) - Consolation Finalists |
2019 Recap
2019 Stars: Patrick McElroy, Will Holey, William Braff, Toby Hansford
The Cavaliers suffered a tough one-match loss to No. 16 Navy to open their 2018-19 campaign, but rebounded nicely with wins over a club-level Richmond squad and No. 8 Princeton—one of the high points for the team in the season.
Defeats to No. 6 Penn and No. 3 Columbia set the Hoos back shortly, but, again, the men showed resilience by knocking off No. 16 Cornell, 5-4, on December 1. The team went unblemished until postseason play thereafter - save one loss to No. 7 Yale in late January - capturing a Mid-Atlantic Team Tournament title in the process.
Despite a close win over Franklin and Marshall to start off the CSA Team Championships, the Hoos struggled with their final two opponents, coming up short against rival Drexel and St. Lawrence, as mentioned.
Two Cavaliers competed in the Molloy Cup at the College Squash Individual Championships, with freshmen Will Holey and Patrick McElroy reaching the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively.
2020 Outlook
Key Returners: Patrick McElroy, Will Holey, William Braff, Toby Hansford
Much like the ladies, the top players on the men’s squash team are young. This bodes well for a team that will have more, valuable experience against the best level college squash has to offer, as UVA hopes to keep trending in the right direction.
Look for the team’s nine-match stretch during the middle of the 2019-20 season, starting with Princeton in late November and ending with Harvard in January, where the Cavaliers could potentially battle with seven of the nation’s top-15 teams, to see exactly how far this program has come.