Squash: Tigers sweep New England opponents

The men’s squash team hoped to celebrate the New Year as an undefeated team, and after its three-win weekend, the No. 3 Tigers (5-0 overall, 2-0 Ivy League) will do just that. They picked up the victories over tough opponents in towering fashion, losing only one individual match the entire weekend.

Despite the Tigers’ dominance, the weekend was not without excitement, as the team’s first challenge was a hungry Brown squad looking to bounce back from a loss to Tufts.

“It was [Brown’s] home opener, and you could tell they were really up for it,” said senior captain Dave Letourneau. “The majority of our guys played really well on Saturday, [despite] being away.”

Trouble arose in the “middle of the lineup” in Saturday’s match against No. 14 Brown (2-3, 0-3), creating the most exciting moments of the weekend. In the most thrilling match, senior Nikhil Seth went down two games to one before winning the fourth and forcing an exhilarating fifth game that went down to game point, with Seth at a disadvantage.

“[Nikhil] ended up down match ball in the fifth game, and ended up pulling through,” Letourneau said. “It was tough to do, because when you’re playing on someone else’s courts and you’re down match ball it is incredibly tough to dig in and pull it out, so that was really impressive on his part.”

Senior Philip Sopher also battled hard through a five-game match, despite ultimately being defeated in the team’s only individual loss.

“I got myself into a 2-0 hole that I tried to dig myself out of, but in the fifth game he came out very strong and I couldn’t sustain the comeback,” Sopher said about his loss. “It didn’t feel good to lose, but at least the rest of the team won … I just came back the next day hoping to play better.”

“I learned from it and played better on Sunday against Middlebury and Williams,” Sopher added. “All in all, it was a really good day for us on Saturday.”

The challenge provided by Brown was a crucial springboard for the rest of the team’s successes this weekend, as it prepared the entire squad to face the challenge of Williams, the highest ranked opponent the Tigers battled this weekend.

“Brown pushed us on Saturday, and on Sunday we came out really prepared and everybody came up and played well,” Letourneau said.

After defeating Brown 8-1 on Saturday, the Tigers played a pair of Sunday matches against No. 11 Williams (1-4) and No. 17 Middlebury (0-1). Princeton won both contests 9-0.

“Everyone was rested from the hotel room beds and came out with focus and intensity,” Sopher said.

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“We expected Williams to be the most difficult match of the weekend for us, and it was,” Letourneau said. “They’re a very good team.”

The Williams squad was determined to put up a fight. Sopher pulled out an exciting win at the No. 5 spot after being forced into a fifth game by Taylor Foehl, who captured the initial two games. Additionally, Seth and junior Clay Blackiston lost their second games before winning their matches. But regardless of the Ephs’ best efforts, the Tigers were able to sweep Williams.

“There wasn’t one bad performance, and if people came out slow, they picked it up right away,” Letourneau said. “It was an impressive performance by everybody.”

A few hours after the Williams match, the Tigers played Middlebury, and despite it being the second match of the day, they had no problem overwhelming their opponents, and lost only two of the 29 individual games played.

“The Middlebury match was kind of tough because we had just gotten off court at Williams so some of the guys were a little tired,” Letourneau said. “We ended up pulling it out, so that was nice.”

The Tigers’ No. 1 player, sophomore Todd Harrity, who remains perfect on the season, led the team’s outstanding overall performance. Junior Christopher Callis, senior Ed Casserley and freshman Ash Egan were also undefeated this weekend.

The Tigers now have several weeks off from official play before their next match, a time that they hope will be productive.

I know a lot of the guys on the team have been talking about getting in very good shape,” Sopher said. “It’s hard to put fitness into your schedule, but now that we have a little break, we can actually bear down and do that type of thing.”

After the long hiatus, the team will be playing six matches, culminating in a clash at home with the national No. 1 team, Trinity College. Future challenges aside, the Tigers were able to put in a total team effort this weekend and reaffirmed their No. 3 ranking by their decimation of three top-flight teams. This bodes well for the team as the Tigers attempt to make a run at the national championship in February.

The women’s squash team experienced similar success in its trip to New England. Princeton (6-0, 3-0) rolled over the opposition, winning 27 of 27 individual matches en route to three decisive victories.

The Tigers wasted little time on the court in their opening match of the weekend against Brown (1-2, 0-2), winning all nine matches 3-0. In fact, only one Brown starter managed to reach double-digit points in an individual game. That came when the Bears’ No. 6, Meredith Schmidt-Fellner, lost 12-10 to freshman Alex Sawin in the opening game of their match. Sawin, however, made quick work of her opponent in the next two games as Princeton rolled to victory.

On Sunday, the Tigers received even less resistance from Williams (1-4) in its second 9-0 win of the weekend. No Princeton player surrendered more than eight points in an individual game during the match. Junior No. 4 Katie Giovinazzo recorded the most convincing win as she surrendered a total of six points in three games. Sophomore No. 1 Julie Cerullo, freshman No. 5 Lexi Saunders and senior No. 6 and co-captain Nikki Sequeira were not far behind as all three surrendered fewer than 10 points in their individual matches.

Princeton rounded out the weekend with a 9-0 win over Middlebury before making the long bus ride back to New Jersey. After six team matches, the Tigers have captured 52 of a possible 54 team points. Now, Princeton will have more than seven weeks of practice until it returns to the court in late January. At that point, however, the competition will grow much stronger as the Tigers face their top three challengers for the Ivy League title — Penn, Yale and Harvard — in a span of 12 days.