Men's Squash: Tigers prove ranking, drop No. 4 Rochester

The men’s squash team started the 2012 portion of its schedule with a critical victory over No. 4 Rochester (4-1) on Sunday. The No. 3 Tigers (6-0, 1-0 Ivy League) had to play without senior All-America Kelly Shannon and key senior David Pena, who are both injured, but still managed to win soundly in their toughest match to date.

“We knew this would be a real momentum swing whether we won or lost, so we really focused on that,” said sophomore Dylan Ward, who won in straight games at No. 6. “We wanted to send a message to the teams we’re going to be play down the line.”

Junior Todd Harrity extended his win streak to 26 consecutive matches with a 3-1 victory over Benjamin Fischer in the No. 1 spot, and senior co-captain Chris Callis swept Andres Duany 3-0 at No. 2.

A trio of largely untested freshmen also secured victories for the Tigers, as No. 3 Tyler Osborne, No. 5 Samuel Kang and No. 9 Taylor Tutrone each won in three games.

“Not only did only our freshmen come out and play big in this match, they also came out and beat players with a lot of experience,” Callis said.

Kang had been injured for the first couple weeks, and his success on Sunday was a great relief for the team.

“We knew Kang was a great recruit, but we didn’t know how he would fare coming into the match,” Callis said. “It was impressive to see Kang come out and be so mentally strong with so little practice.”

Osborne also had a sound performance when the Tigers needed it most.

“Tyler came out and played great in his first competitive, serious game of college squash and won 11-0,” Callis said. “He was playing one of [Rochester’s] seniors, and he was playing with more discipline and intelligence.”

Ward defeated Oscar Lopez in the No. 6 position, but senior No. 4 Clay Blackiston, junior No. 7 Steve Harrington and sophomore No. 8 Ash Egan dropped their matches.

“I had never played Lopez before, but I heard he was quick so I wanted to establish my length, hit the ball deep and execute some of the shots I’ve been working on,” Ward said. “I was pretty on-point throughout the match, which was good.”

Princeton will resume Ivy League play next week. The Tigers will visit Dartmouth on Saturday and then travel to Cambridge, Mass., to face an undefeated Harvard squad.