‘Particularly unforgettable’: A Look Back at Dartmouth Squash’s Historic 24-25 season

When the Dartmouth men's and women's squash teams opened their 2024-25 seasons, the group of 23 student-athletes and their coaching staff had one common goal at the forefront of their minds – to qualify for the CSA National Team Championships.

Mac Aube, Christian Shah and Quintin Campbell, the men's senior captains, also knew they wanted to end their Dartmouth squash careers with a victory against an Ivy League rival, a goal they had been chasing since their first seasons. With their final seasons on the horizon, the trio knew they wanted to give their all and leave the program with no regrets.

The biggest challenge the teams faced during the season was competing at a high level while trying to avoid injuries or illness, due to the small roster sizes. Aube said he and his co-captains stressed how important each student-athlete was for the team's overall success.

"What we told the team is to be prepared to do everything and beyond," Aube said. "If you do the things you can on a daily basis to get ready for practice, ready to compete, we're going to have a great season."

Vikram Malhotra, the Douglas A. Donahue Jr. 1973 Head Coach of Men's and Women's Squash, echoed a similar sentiment to Aube. He noted it was a high-stress season, especially trying to avoid injury in such a physical and intense sport.

"It's a very tough position to be in, because one person getting hurt or falling sick can impact multiple match rankings, whether we make it into division one nationals or not," Malhotra said. "I think everybody realized that and took accountability for themselves."

One of the ways the team tried to prevent injuries was through detailed training to ensure strength and endurance. Campbell said there was no room for error; he knew his team needed to train hard while also taking extra time to care for their bodies so everyone could stay healthy.

"Guys are putting in proper warmups, proper stretching, and that started from day one in September in our first captains' practice," Campbell said. "The guys really just did a great job all the way throughout the season, until the beginning of March when nationals came around. We didn't really have any major injuries throughout the year."

Both teams began their seasons with a four-match homestand. The men opened with a win over No. 13 Rochester, while the women clinched an impressive opening-day win over No. 13 Georgetown. They each began the season with a 2-2 record before heading to Ithaca, N.Y., to face Cornell, where both teams had their first road losses of the season.

The Big Green continued their stretch of road matches, making a stop in New York City to face Columbia before taking on Tufts in matches that marked the halfway point of their seasons. The men earned a hard-fought 7-2 win, while the women fell to the Jumbos.

Women's co-captain Chelsea Cho said the loss to Tufts, which ranked just below Dartmouth, was one of the biggest challenges the team had to navigate due to how it complicated their ranking while trying to qualify for nationals.

Following the loss, Cho said she and her co-captain, Aubrey Lennon, focused on going to practice every day with a clear goal in mind. She noted there was a shift in the team's mindset entering the second half of the season, meaning they began going into every match with a "play to win" mentality despite the opposing team's ranking.

"Having that mental shift was key for us as a team," Cho said. "Helping us gain a lot more confidence in each of us, but also as a whole team."

This reflected in the women's final performances of the regular season, which included back-to-back wins over No. 15 Williams and No. 16 Middlebury. They finished off the regular season with a 9-0 sweep of No. 17 Colby on senior day, which sealed their spot in nationals.

On the men's side, they encountered a similar sense of uncertainty regarding the postseason after falling to No. 12 Williams. Campbell said the men also experienced a mindset shift after this loss, and it motivated everyone to work harder.

"We came together as a group and said there's no more room to mess up," Campbell said. "Every match from here on out is playoff squash."

The men wrapped their final two games of the regular season with wins over No. 17 Middlebury and No. 20 Colby, securing a spot in the CSA National Championships.

A week and a half later, the teams traveled to Philadelphia to open the postseason. After picking up a loss in the first round, the men had a rematch against Williams and bested them 7-2 to continue their championship run.

"I think the other thing that was cool was the feeling around the program as it turned in the Williams match," J.B. Weber, Senior Associate Athletics Director for Regulatory Affairs and Recreation and squash's sport administrator, said. "There was an energy in the U.S. Squash Center that I haven't felt around Dartmouth squash in my tenure."

After falling to No. 5 Penn and No. 9 Drexel, the women entered their third day of competition and prepared to face a familiar foe – Tufts. Cho said she knew ahead of the match that she would be last on the court, noting that she watched her teammates' close matches before attempting to close it out for the Big Green.

Everything came down to Cho's match at the third position. After losing the first game, Malhotra brought Cho to a quieter place in the packed, roaring venue and gave her words of encouragement that would lead her to victory.

"He told me, 'This is your time and this is your match. You are exactly where you need to be.' and that really helped me lock in." Cho said.

Cho went on to win the second and third games, dropping the fourth before clinching the match with an 11-6 final in the fifth. By clinching the match, the Dartmouth women's squash team secured eleventh in the nation.

"It was such an amazing feeling, my entire team just being on one side of the court, and all my coaches and all the parents and families," Cho said. "As a team, we all just did a group hug and started jumping up and down."

Lennon said she had full faith in Cho's abilities, knowing how hard she works and how badly she wanted to win this match.

"The feeling after she won the last point was so indescribable, and just so happy. I'd never experienced a 5-4 match in all my four years, so having my last match ever come down to that was, of course, stressful, but also particularly unforgettable." Lennon said.

Around 30 minutes after the women's match ended, the men took the courts to face an Ivy League opponent they had fallen to at the beginning of the season, No. 9 Cornell.

Weber said Cornell was the expected winner based on rankings, but as the match progressed, he noticed how competitive the individual matches were. He said he felt excited when watching Felix Feldman and Warren Klein's winning matches, but Callan Venkatesen's 3-0 sweep was the turning point.

"The energy was palpable. It was a packed house. It was what college squash was supposed to be all about," Weber said. "And I actually got so nervous that I had to leave the building."

After Aube clinched his match 3-1 at the second position, all eyes were on Campbell as he faced Cornell's Rohan Iyer at the fourth position. Campbell said he wasn't aware of how much weight his match carried, but he kept asking student manager Chris Kang for score updates in between games.

Kang told Campbell the team needed him to win, which was his way of keeping the senior captain level-headed. When Campbell clinched his match after battling for over an hour, a ruling in a different match came back in Dartmouth's favor, sealing their triumphant fate.

Shah said he missed the announcement because he was grabbing his rackets, but knew the team had won when he saw his teammates celebrating.

"My parents and siblings, who had no idea what was happening, saw me jump into celebration with my teammates, and that is how they found out too," Shah said. "Which I thought was a pretty cool moment for all of us as well."

Cheers and joyful screams filled the U.S. Squash Center as the Dartmouth men's squash team recorded its first Ivy League win in five years. This win made history in more ways than one, also putting the team in ninth place nationally, their best finish since 2019.

Malhotra expressed his gratitude towards Mike Harrity, the Haldeman Family Director of Athletics and Recreation, as well as the Friends of Dartmouth Squash and alumni who have helped the program get to this point. He noted the significant positive impact Pam Anckermann, Oscar Lopez Hidalgo and the support staff have had on this season.

After taking a step back to think about the win, Malhotra said it was surreal to think about how they accomplished this goal after talking about it season after season. He said seeing the team perform at that level was incredible, and the win was a fantastic moment.

When reflecting on the seniors and the run they went on to achieve their goals, Malhotra said he'll be back at it next year, but the graduating student-athletes will not. He said the graduates will be leaving with lifelong memories of their fans, parents and coaches cheering for them, which they will be sharing for years to come.

"That's what this is all about, creating the most wonderful memories, because eventually, in 10, 15 and 20 years, the wins and losses that you've had will not matter as much as the memories you created while achieving everything that you did," Malhotra said. "The bus rides, victories like this, the celebrations after, the moments during the match. Those are the important things. And I'm just glad that we were a part of memories that they will have for a lifetime, because that's why we do this."

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