Squash: Princeton claims conference crown

The win against Columbia left the men’s team (12-1 overall, 7-0 Ivy League) undefeated in the Ivy League, naming them the champions of the Ivy League. The elusive Ivy League title marginally escaped the Tigers for two years, with narrow 4-5 losses against Yale characterizing the past two seasons. This year, however, with the 8-1 defeat of Yale last weekend, the Tigers reclaimed the title for the 17th time.

As Columbia is only in its first year of varsity squash, the major win came on Friday with a 6-3 defeat of Cornell. Princeton immediately took the lead in the first shift, led by senior Clay Blackiston who swept his opponent at the No. 6 position. Blackiston was the only member of the Princeton team who defeated his opponent in just three matches and continues to assert himself as an asset to the team, as he also garnered sweeps of his opponents against Trinity and Yale.

The Tigers also caught a break at No. 3 when freshman Tyler Osbourne won the game by default as Cornell’s Aditya Jagtap’s injury prevented him from finishing the match. Junior Todd Harrity played against his opponent from last year’s individual championship finals, Cornell’s Nick Sachvie. Although he initially found himself trailing as Sachvie took the first game, Harrity came back to win each of the subsequent games. The Tigers also saw the return of senior David Pena who was studying abroad for most of the season.

The weekend was astonishingly successful for the women’s team (10-3, 3-3) as well, with marked wins not only against Cornell and Columbia but also No. 4 ranked Trinity. After close matches against Harvard and Yale went the other way, the women’s hard work finally paid off on Saturday with a dominant 8-1 win over the Bantams.

The Tigers were the first to mark the board, with a win from sophomore Alex Sawin at No. 6. Although the first two games came relatively easily, Sawin battled her opponent in the last game, ultimately closing out the match 13-11. Junior Casey Cortes was the last to finish the first shift, with a match that went into the fifth game. Junior Julie Cerullo claimed a win on Friday at No. 1 against Cornell’s Danielle Letourneau, sister of Princeton’s All-American David Letourneau who graduated last year.

“Today’s win has given us the confidence we need going into Howe Cup,” Cerullo said. “We see it as the beginning of us peaking, and we’re confident that our best performances are yet to come. I think we surprised Trinity with the decisiveness of our win, but we’re thrilled to set the bar high and look forward to surprising some other teams in two weeks.”

As the regular match play of the season comes to a successful close, the Tigers look ahead to what is the most important time of the season: the College Squash Association team championships. And with their new title and their pivotal win against Yale, the men now enter the tournament ranked second behind Trinity. The women also demonstrated that they are at the peak of their performance entering the Howe Cup.

Princeton will be hosting the men’s championships at Jadwin Gymnasium courts, while the women’s championship will be hosted in Cambridge by Harvard. With Quarterfinals on Friday, Semifinals on Saturday and Finals on Sunday, all the hard work of the season comes together next weekend.