The men’s and women’s squash teams, under the direction of coaches Mark and Julee Devoy, will begin scrimmage play this weekend in New Haven, Conn. The men’s team finished last season with a 13-5 record, good for 6th place nationally, while the women’s team earned the same ranking with a 10-6 record.

Mark Devoy is entering his sixth season as coach, and boasts an overall record of 49-38 with Cornell. Last season, all 10 of his players received top-100 individual rankings, with four in the top-50, most notably senior Chris Sachvie, who ranked 19th.

With the loss of only one letterwinner, and the addition of five freshmen, coach Mark Devoy believes that this year’s team has “more depth.”

“It’s still unknown how the freshmen will play, being that college is faster paced than high school,” he said, “but the scrimmages will give them a better feel for the game.”

Chris Sachvie, senior, expressed similar thoughts, saying, “The scrimmages will be a good introduction for them, exposing them to the higher intensity of college play.”

Little be it known, but at one point during the offseason, 13 out of the 15 members of the squash team had the flu. While Coach Devoy described this situation as “disruptive” and “not ideal” to offseason preparation, he was able to see the cup as half-full, commenting, “this means they wont come down with it during the season, right?”

A healthy Chris Sachvie is looking forward to shaking off the rust of the offseason and getting the season underway.

“It’s really exciting, with this being my last year,” he said. “I hope I can go out with a bang.”

“Last year we came up short of what we wanted,” he said. “It will be a disappointment if we don’t finish fourth place or higher this season,” he added, “because we have a team that’s more than capable of doing that.”

Coach Devoy’s wife, Julee, is also entering her sixth season as coach of the women’s team. Her overall record with the team is 41-40, and like her husband, she guided all 10 her players from last season to top-100 individual rankings.

Coach Julee Devoy sees this season’s roster as “stronger” than last year’s, with the addition of three freshmen, each ripe with talent.

“[Freshman] Jaime Laird is a seasoned squash player and is a great addition to our team,” she said, “I know she will be capable of handling the increased competition that the Ivy League poses.”

Coach Devoy also heaped praise on her other two freshmen. She described Margaret Remsen as “very sound technically” and Alexandra Glassman as “a very good athlete.”

Elizabeth Spyrou, junior, believes that the freshmen “make the team stronger and add to the team dynamic.”

Coach Devoy is eagerly awaiting the scrimmage games, as she is curious to see the skill of the international players.

“The scrimmage is a good starting point,” she said, “it allows us to see how the other teams are shaping up and gets our team ready for the regular season.”

Back in the swing of things: Squash returns to action this weekend in preperation for the winter season. Senior Chris Sachvie, ranked No. 19 in the nation, is pushing the Red towards a big season.

Rachel Wagner, too, is anticipating scrimmage play as she feels that the offseason has blown by, leaving her “physically ready, but not mentally.”

“These games will help me get back on pace,” she said.

The goal for the women’s squash team is improving on last season’s sixth-place finish. However, Coach Devoy noted how this won’t be an easy task, as “the teams ahead of us our fantastic teams, while the ones behind us will be chasing us.”

The women’s first regular season game will be Nov. 20 against Stanford, while the men’s team will face Western Ontario.