POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – Coming off a program-record 15 wins last season, the Vassar College women's squash team looks to return to the College Squash Association Team National Tournament for the fifth-consecutive season. In the initial CSA preseason rankings, the Brewers are ranked at No. 29.
 
Vassar opens the 2018-19 season this weekend by hosting Fordham, Mount Holyoke and Georgetown on Saturday starting at 9 a.m. in Kenyon Hall. The Brewers then wrap up on Sunday against Boston University at 12 p.m.
 
Vassar loses five athletes, but the addition of six freshmen aim to have an immediate impact. Four members of last season's CSA Team Championship return in Alessandra Pilkington (New York, NY), Julia Pollak (San Francisco, CA), Sydney Nemphos (Baltimore, MD) and Amanda Watson (Falmouth, ME). Nemphos will rejoin the team next semester after studying abroad. Of the returners, Pilkinton leads with 12 wins from playing at the first, second, third and fourth positions. Pollak went 6-5, while Watson was 3-1 a year ago.
 
Also returning are sophomores Alexa Elias (New York, NY) and Isabel Bronson (Monterey, MA), but a lot of new faces are set to compete. Newcomers come in senior Allegra von Hirschberg (Mbabane, Swaziland) and sophomores Maya Bernard (Forest Hills, NY) and Mira Michels-Gualtieri (Washington D.C.).
 
Freshmen make up the largest class with Lucie Bisbee (New York, NY), Claire Coss (Penn Valley, PA), Natalia Fischl-Lanzoni (Cambridge, MA), Lily Hammer (Wethersfield, CT), Nicole Pihlstrom (Fort Collins, CO) and Faidra Tsakiri (Athens, Greece) all vying for playing time.
 
Following the weekend, travel to Hamilton, NY for the Colgate Round Robin on Nov. 10.