The middle school girls highlighted a great trip for StreetSquash to the 2026 SEA Team Nationals in Philadelphia, securing a top-three finish for the second year in a row.

The squad went into the tournament with high hopes, despite four of the five players on their roster having never competed at SEA Team Nationals previously. Ranked as the number two seed in a field of 12, the middle school girls had a first-round bye before squaring off against third-seeded SquashSmarts in the quarterfinals.

Impressively, the team didn’t lose a single game. StreetSquash earned a 5-0 sweep, with all five players winning their matches 3-0.

In the semifinals, the girls faced a tough matchup against their crosstown rivals, CitySquash, suffering a 4-1 defeat. But it seemed nobody could stop that CitySquash team, as they went on to win first place in the entire division. The loss sent the girls to a playoff matchup with a chance to secure a third-place finish.

Facing Squash Haven, StreetSquash earned yet another 5-0 victory to bring home hardware for the second straight year.

In that final match, Olivia, a 7th grader, was on court first. Her 3-0 victory over her opponent not only got StreetSquash off to a great start, but it topped off an incredible weekend for Olivia at the individual level, as she was the only middle school girl to win every match she played.

“It feels good because I gave it my all, and even with a lot of pressure, I pushed through,” Olivia said after the final match. “I feel like we are very successful, and it’s a big accomplishment. It’s good to get this far.”

Keziah, another 7th grader and the only returning player to the middle school girls’ roster, was next on court, and her 3-1 victory put StreetSquash in a prime position to finish the weekend strong.

“I was kind of nervous when there were a lot of people around me, because I didn’t want to lose in front of all these people,” Keziah said.

Gennesse was third on court, and her sweep of her opponent officially secured the third-place finish for StreetSquash.

“It feels like a big accomplishment because there’s so many people who are playing,” Gennesse said. “It feels good to know that we came in third place, all of us.”

And although the match had already been won by the time Ruth, also a 7th grader, got on court, her match encompassed the true spirit of competition and resilience. Ruth got off to a hot start, quickly defeating her opponent in the first two games 11-4 and 11-5. But her opponent refused to let up. In game three, Ruth was up 10-6 and had match ball. However, an intense battle led her opponent to score six consecutive unanswered points, and all of a sudden Ruth was forced into a fourth game.

In game four, Ruth was up 10-8 and again had multiple chances to put away the match. But the Squash Haven player wasn’t going down without a fight; another four unanswered points forced a decisive game five.

In game five, this time it was Ruth’s opponent who was up 10-8, with a crushing defeat staring Ruth in the face. But matching what her opponent did to her in game four, Ruth secured four straight points, including two service aces on the final two points to wrap up the game, the match, and the 5-0 sweep for StreetSquash.

Though it was Ruth’s first time at SEA Team Nationals, she had just competed at the same venue a week prior as part of the New York French American Charter School team at the Middle School Team Championships. She said team coach Joanne Schickerling told them to focus on the mental side of the game.

“Coach Joanne told us, ‘we need to lock in mentally,’” Ruth said. “She was saying, ‘we have the skills, we have everything we need to fight against them, but the only thing we’re lacking is mental positivity.’”

Ruth says that during her match, she was able to talk herself up.

“I’m not going to lie, at one point I was putting myself down,” Ruth said. “And then something inside me was like, ‘Okay, I know you could do better than that. This game would be over in seconds. I know you can do better than that.’ And then when she served, I was just speaking to myself the whole time. I was like, ‘Okay, I need to lock in mentally.’ And then that’s why during the last point, I was like, ‘How could I aim to hit it to the side wall and then the glass?’”

Ruth believes she became mentally stronger over the course of the three-day tournament.

“I feel like I’ve grown mentally because [on Friday] I cried after the first game,” Ruth said. “And I’m starting to understand that to be mentally strong, you need to keep saying stuff to yourself until what you’re trying to do is over.”

Emi, a sixth grader playing as the team’s number two, was also integral to the team’s success. She secured a sweep in two of the three matches she played. Emi traveled to SEA Team Nationals last year as part of StreetSquash’s first-ever elementary school team to compete. However, due to an illness, she never ended up on court. This year, she finally got to compete for the first time and was thrilled to finish in third place.

“It feels very good because we got a pretty high place,” Emi said. “And last year, I was so devastated about not playing, so this year it was really good.”

Head Coach and StreetSquash Squash Director Joanne Schickerling was thrilled for the girls.

“Big shoutout to the girls’ middle school team for coming third,” Joanne said. “I was really proud of them and just proud of all the all the students for competing really hard this weekend.”

In total, StreetSquash sent five teams to SEA Team Nationals. In addition to the middle school girls, there were two middle school boys’ teams, a high school boys’ team, and a high school girls’ team.

The high school boys technically went into the weekend defending four consecutive SEA Team titles. However, the roster completely turned over, as the 2025 team featured all seniors. This year’s team finished the weekend 1-3, with their lone victory coming on the tournament’s final day in the Plate 1a semifinals.

The high school girls finished 2-2, defeating both SquashSmarts and First State Squash in the Plate 1b bracket. The middle school boys’ A team also finished the weekend 2-2. An inexperienced middle school boys’ B team fought hard all weekend but finished 0-3.

“Overall, I think it was a really good tournament,” Joanne said. “The kids came into the tournament ready to fight. It was great to see the new players stepping up, leaning on the older players for their experience, and to see the middle school group growing.”

See and download high-resolution photos from the weekend here.