PHILLY SQUASH

July/August 2011, College News

Bright Future for Haverford College Squash Teams

By Jim Snyder   Mon, Feb 28, 2011

Bright Future for Haverford College Squash

The Men’s and Women’s squash teams at Haverford College are already looking forward to next year with good reason.   According to first year coach Niki Clement, the teams have seen  “tremendous improvement in their skill development, strategic understanding on court, and overall performance.”   

The men’s team at Haverford College closed the 2010-11 season with a record of 8-7; a major improvement over last year’s 4-11 record.  They had big wins over Bryant, John Hopkins, Vanderbilt and local teams Drexel University and Swarthmore College.  They also had an excellent performance in the Chafee Division of the College Nationals, with a 5-4 victory over the University of Washington in the consolation round.   They finished with an impressive final ranking of 39 in the College Squash Association (CSA).

Coach Clement praised the team stating, “The men's team is comprised of incredibly diligent, intelligent and self-motivated players, and I can see their proficiency in the sport develop further with every practice. They are certainly setting up the formula for continued development and improvement.”  The best  news is all the top players on the team should be returning next year including  two players from the Philadelphia area, Robbie Thompson (2012) who played at Shipley and Chris Tyson (2013)  who played at Germantown Friends. 

The Haverford Women’s team won their first round match in the Consolation round of the E Division Howe Cup Championships only to loss to New York University 5-4 in the second round.  The Haverford women’s team finished with a 2-12 record and a final ranking of 34 in the CSA.   

Both teams have a lot to look forward to next year with most of the top players returning and another year with coach Clement.  Members of the men's team are:

Andy McComas                  

Zef Konst

Alex Spiliotes

Chris Tyson

T. Ibbotson-Sindelar

Robbie Thompson

Matt Liscovitz

Charlie Michele

 Zeek Barnett

Members of the Women's team are:

Caroline Nightingale      

Jenny Tong

Kara Percival

Randee Johnson

Kate Mundell

Katherine Pryor

Zoe Becker

Aliza Polkes

Alisa Strayer   

By Jim Snyder

Jim Snyder started out in Racquetball over thirty years ago.  During his racquetball career he coached at several clubs in Florida and Pennsylvania including the Healthplex in Springfield, PA.  He also taught indoor racquet sports at Montgomery County Community College.  While Racquetball Pro at the Healthplex, Jim took up squash and has played ever since.  He is now the Director of Squash at Malvern Prep and the Editor of Phillysquash.com.  He teaches squash for Chester County Night Squash and is the coach for the Malvern youth team in the Chestmont Squash League.

Jim is the co-founder of "Everyone Plays" along with Ron Koenig  and is dedicated to keeping young people active and on the squash courts.