By Will Wainewright
York’s squash teams got off to a mixed start in their first BUCS fixtures of the season, with wins for the men’s second and women’s first teams but defeat for Calum Fraser’s understrength first team on Wednesday. The sports centre played host to a festival of squash with all the teams playing at home and it did not take long for Ciara Wilder’s women’s team to build onthe successes of last year and finish off their opponents 4 – 0.
Wholesale changes have been made to the side after the departure of the top four seeds but the injection of some new blood in Emily Russell, Charlotte Gregory and Hannah Sisman paid dividends as Northumbria were dispatched without the loss of a game. Wilder expressed her satisfaction at the new members of her team: “I am really happy with the team now. It was alwaysgoing to be hard after our top four left but this team is more than ready to take on the BUCS League this year.
It was a different story for the men’s first team, of whom only captain Fraser could manage a win. Second seed Atkinson came close to forcing a deciding match but went down in fiveafter letting a match point chance go. Despite the disappointment, Fraser remained bullish about his side’s chances of promotion.
“We’ve got a reallystrong side here and once we’ve sorted out a few rough edges we’ll be fine.”
The men’s seconds managed to dispatch their opponents without too many worries after Will Wainewright and debutant Tom Armstrong polished off their opponents, although Masters student Alex Turner failed to produce a whitewash despite winning the first game. The three squash sides go on theroad for away clashes in ten days time as they gear up for an intense winter season of BUCS and local league fxtures.