UVA Squash releases 2019-2020 season schedule

The Virginia men’s and women’s squash teams have announced their schedules for the 2019-20 season. The Cavaliers will host a combined 11 regular season matches at the McArthur Squash Center.

“You can’t become the best without playing, and one day beating, the best,” head coach Mark Allen said. “The schedule we have in place for this coming season is by far our most challenging to date. With repeat matches in place with the likes of Columbia, Yale and Princeton, and first ever matches against current national champion Harvard and perennial challenger Trinity, this season gives us an opportunity to climb another few spots up the national rankings and claim a finishing position in the A bracket for both men’s and women’s national championships for the first time ever. I know the players will be excited and motivated by the strength of schedule and I am looking forward to seeing what our players can accomplish this season.”

The 2019-20 schedule includes matches against defending men’s and women’s national champion Harvard and men’s and women’s national runner-up Trinity. The Cavaliers are set to face Harvard and Trinity for the first time since becoming a varsity program in 2017. UVA will also square off for the first time against Vassar and Tufts.

Virginia will open the season in November with the men’s team playing eight matches during the month and the women’s team competing in six. The Cavaliers will welcome Franklin & Marshall (Nov. 2), Richmond (men only, Nov. 2), North Carolina (men only, Nov. 2) and Navy (men only, Nov. 13) to the McArthur Squash Center before finishing the fall season on the road against George Washington (Nov. 15/19), Princeton (Nov. 22), Yale (Nov. 23), Wesleyan (women only, Nov. 23) and Trinity (Nov. 24).

The Cavaliers will host three matches at home after the winter break, competing against Vassar (Jan. 11), Brown (Jan. 15) and Columbia (Jan. 26). UVA will hit the road to face Cornell (Jan. 18), Dickinson (Jan. 19), Harvard (Jan. 31), Middlebury (Feb. 1), Williams (Feb. 1), MIT (men only, Feb. 2) and Tufts (women only, Feb. 2) to round out the regular season.

George Washington will host the Mid-Atlantic Tournament Feb. 7-9. The w­omen’s team will compete in the College Squash Association (CSA) Team National Championships Feb. 21-23, while the men will compete at the national championships Feb. 28-March 1. Both programs will send individuals to the CSA Individuals Nationals March 6-8.