LEWISTON, Maine -- The Bates squash teams have a lot of new faces this season and the Bobcats are challenging themselves right away with a pair of Ivy League opponents. Bates opens the squash season this Saturday when the women and men take on Cornell at 1pm on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania. 

"We are trying to show pretty much half a new roster what it's like to compete against the best that college squash has," head coach Reinhold Hergeth said on this week's Bates Bobcast. "So immediately, we are playing a round robin at UPenn and the fact that it's so early on in the season is the perfect opportunity for players who haven't really competed since February of 2020." 

Following their match against Cornell, the Bobcats take on Dickinson the same day at 7pm and will then face host Pennsylvania Sunday at 10am. 

The Bates women enter the season ranked 15th in the College Squash Association rankings. Junior captain Erika Parker (San Salvador, El Salvador) was a second team All-NESCAC selection two years ago, finishing with an overall record of 12-9 while playing mostly at the No. 2 position. She projects to compete at the No. 2 position again this year, with sophomore Andrea Martagon (Puebla, Mexico) expected to debut at No. 1 in the lineup. 

Senior captain Katie Manternach (Brooklyn, N.Y.) returns for the first semester to provide even more leadership for Bates as a two-time NESCAC All-Sportsmanship selection. She has played up and down the lineup during her career, finishing with a winning record every year to date. Senior captain Natalie Bachman (New Canaan, Conn.) is back as well, having gone 22-17 during her two seasons as a Bobcat, along with a NESCAC All-Academic selection last year. 

"Both the women and the men's captains have done a fantastic job of pulling pretty much a brand-new roster together and bringing that team chemistry and team bonding up to a level that is not comparable to last year or the year before that," Hergeth said. "I'm just very excited to see how they compete and see them really fight for each other, which is ultimately what college squash is about." 

The Bates men enter the season ranked 23rd in the CSA rankings. Senior captains Jesper Phillips (Moss, Norway) and Peter Koenigsbauer (Seattle, Wash.) lead the Bobcats into the season. Phillips was a second team All-NESCAC selection two years ago, going 12-11 at the No. 2 position for Bates. He is projected to play at the No. 1 position this year for the Bobcats. Koenigsbauer also finished with a winning record two years ago, going 11-9, mostly at the No. 8 position. Junior Sultan Hashmi (Belvedere, Calif.) also returns after going 14-6 in his rookie season while playing mostly at No. 9 for Bates. But there will be a lot of new faces as well.

"We had a great recruiting class last year," Hergeth said. "They'll be thrown straight into the fire this weekend, playing their first college match against No. 9 Cornell, players like first-years Alec Spiro (Portland, Oregon) and Harris Ramlee from Malaysia, who are playing number two and three respectively." 

Both teams look to continue their success, with the women sporting five straight winning seasons and the men posting winning records each of the last eight years.

"They're going to have their hands full, but I can't wait to see them compete at a high level because they are definitely capable of competing against anybody in college squash," Hergeth said. "So I'm just excited to see them really bring it."