Squash: Both teams sweep pair as 2011-12 slate starts

The Tigers (2-0) started the season off with contributions from the whole team, leading to victories over Franklin & Marshall and Middlebury. Princeton won its first match of the season 7-2 against F&M and swept Middlebury the following day 9-0 at Jadwin.

The women’s squash team topped its male counterparts, beating both F&M and Middlebury in perfect 9-0 sweeps. Remarkably, Princeton (2-0) has yet to lose even an individual game in the 54 total played, with each Tiger winning by 3-0 scores.

Junior Julie Cerullo, ranked No. 3 in the country, led the way by allowing just a combined 16 points over the course of her two weekend matches. The Tigers also gave starting positions to several freshmen for the first action of their young collegiate careers, and they responded in kind with dominant wins.

For the men’s side, Princeton closed out Middlebury in every game of the match, each player winning in three. The match was especially significant for freshmen Tyler Osborne, David Hoffman and Taylor Tutrone, all of whom won their first home matches.

“The freshmen are contributing a lot,” junior Todd Harrity said.

Senior co-captain Chris Callis, who just recently returned to the court after being out due to pneumonia, also managed to win his match at No. 2. Senior Clay Blackiston and sophomore Dylan Ward also won during the first shift, giving the Tigers a 4-0 lead before the second shift began.

Against F&M, the Tigers took seven of nine matches. Harrity won his match at the No. 1 position, and Osborne and Tutrone enjoyed their first wins of the season, both in three games.

Despite this initial success, however, the team expresses expectations for more. Against F&M, the individual matches were tighter than the overall score might convey.

“It was a lot harder than we were expecting it to be,” Harrity said.

Harrity won 3-1 against F&M’s Gabriel de Melo, currently ranked No. 11, with scores of 11-3, 11-6, 7-11, 11-5. Last season, Harrity lost only two individual matches, his first loss similarly against de Melo in the season’s opener.

The match overall proved difficult for the Tigers, as five of F&M’s defeats, including Harrity’s match, went into at least four sets. At the No. 6 spot, junior Steve Harrington had to come back from a 2-0 deficit to win his match. Sophomore Ash Egan also played out all five sets before winning at No. 8.

“We did put in a lot of time on the court practicing, but we didn’t play very, very well,” Osborne said. “We weren’t playing to our best.”

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

However, despite their slight struggle within the games, the Tigers demonstrate their clear capacity for improvement.

“It’s the start of the season, so we’re not expecting to be at our best right now,” Osborne said. “But, with continuous practice, I’m sure by the time January comes around we’ll be a lot more prepared.”

Callis, who won his match against Middlebury, is still recovering from pneumonia. He believes he contracted the disease on the team’s recent trip to France two weeks ago and, as a result, isn’t yet performing to his full capability. His co-captain, senior Kelly Shannon, also continues to battle injury and was unable to play in either match.

Nevertheless, the Tigers look to improve with each match they play.

“I think it could have been hard today [against Middlebury] having high energy after yesterday, but it was all good, and we played well,” Harrity said. “The people that lost yesterday won today. I’m looking forward to seeing how far we can go.”

The Tigers will travel next weekend on Saturday Dec. 3 to play Penn, as they continue their quest to be the “undefeated national champs.”

In the meantime, the players look to continue their hard work as a team to prepare for that match and the rest of the season. As a freshman, Osborne is especially conscious of this newfound support from his teammates.

“I’m coming from playing a sport that’s purely individual to being on a team,” Osborne said. “The team atmosphere creates that much more enjoyment for you to play.”

Although squash is mainly an individual sport, the Tigers showed their teamwork as they supported their teammate in the last match of the day against Middlebury. Playing at both the 10th and 11th position, freshman Jacob Lee’s final match continued even after everyone else’s had finished. All of the members of the team gathered around the court as Lee went into his second match of five sets.

“Right now, [Lee]’s got everyone on his team watching him, supporting him,” Osborne said. “It’s a different atmosphere when you’re on a team. Everything we do in practice and on the court isn’t for ourselves; it’s for the team. It’s a different mentality.”

The Tigers thus demonstrate the kind of teamwork that, hopefully, will carry them all the way through the CSA Team Championships in February.