Virginia Men and Drexel Women Win Mid-Atlantic Squash Conference Championships by David Keating Virginia’s #2, Aly Hussein, picked up an early win over F&M’s Aryan Parekh on the way to a 8-1 team victory.
Drexel’s #2 Alina Bushma, a
sophomore, won all four of her matches by 3-0 scores at the MASC
championships. Drexel named her the women’s “Athlete of the Week.” Here
she faces Virginia’s Maria Moya-Lopez.
photos David Keating
February 10, 2020
- The Virginia men and the Drexel women took home Mid-Atlantic Squash
Conference (MASC) Championships trophies Sunday. The victories at the
championships make it likely both teams will keep their top 8 rankings
to qualify for the top divisions at the national team championships
that begin later this month. Washington DC’s Squash on Fire and George
Washington University hosted the event.
The Virginia Cavaliers beat Franklin & Marshall 8-1 in the final
and dropped just two individual matches on the way to winning the
title. The Cavaliers beat Dickinson in the opening round and George
Washington in the semis.
Virginia’s wins this weekend, combined with #14 Franklin &
Marshall’s 5-4 upset of #6 Drexel in the semis, puts the Dragons at
risk of falling into the second division at nationals. Drexel scored a
5-4 win over #12 George Washington University to take third place and
preserve some hope of staying in the top division.
The #10 Virginia women needed an upset of #8 Drexel in the final to
have some hope of punching their ticket to the top division, but fell
short 7-2. The Dragons dominated the top three positions, posting 3-0
sweeps. The Cavaliers showed their depth, taking wins at #6 and #9, and
putting up strong fights at the other positions. The #14 ranked George
Washington also took third place in the women’s division in the
five-team round robin.
Mark Allen, the Cavaliers head coach, said the men “battled hard all
season and today’s result was just the icing on the cake….” Referring
to the likelihood that Virginia would make the top division for the
first time in its history, he said that if we “achieved that today,
it’s awesome for the team and a reward for their hard work and
perseverance through” a tough season.
Drexel Assistant Coach Dylan Cunningham said “we’re really excited to
win the women’s MASC championship. We’ve had an up and down year, but
today [everyone] played hard and got rewarded for that.” He added that
the win “will give us a lot of confidence going in to nationals in two
weeks.”
The 2020 MASC conference championships was the first as a conference
recognized by the College Squash Association (CSA), the governing body
for intercollegiate varsity squash. The event had a trial run last year
and the CSA granted the conference provisional status last June.
According to the CSA, the “concept for MASC was developed and
implemented by George Washington University Coach Anderson Good.” The
CSA will review the conference at the end of the season, but given the
excitement the tournament generated last weekend, it should have a good
chance to return next year.
