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Yale tops Harvard Feb 20th in "dominating" performance


Feb 22, 2002 © 2002 Ron Beck, photos: © 2002 Debra Tessier. May not be reproduced online or in print without permission.

Yale's Surprising 6-3 win gives them 17-2 Season

The Yale squash squad was outwardly confident going into Wednesday evening's matchup against then #2 ranked Harvard. Meanwhile, Harvard entered with more trepidation --- after losing last week to Princeton. “We were really focused on Yale because we knew that, although they were a different sort of team from Princeton, they were also very strong,” Harvard co-captain David Barry said.

By the end of the night, Yale's confidence was rewarded with a rousing 6-3 victory over Harvard, that did not seem close at any point during the evening. “This was one of the biggest wins for us in years. And it was not a close contest, I thought we dominated them,” said Yale head coach Dave Talbott. “Our depth was the difference. It was a great environment and just a fun night."

Yale won at the 1, 2, 6, 7, 8 and 9 positions. In college competition, the even-numbered matches are on-court first. In New Haven Wednesday, Yale took 2, 6, and 8 matches, giving them a three match to one lead going into the final five matches. The key win was Yale senior Peter Grote's come from behind win over Harvard #2 Dylan Patterson. Patterson, who was dropped from #1 to #2 after last week's loss to Princeton, took an early lead. Then, Grote overcame 1-0 and 2-1 game deficits to capture a 3-2 decision over Patterson before an overflow crowd on the Brady Court. The senior leader, who finished the year with a 14-3 record, won the fifth and final game by a 9-2 score that sent most of the 250 fans into a frenzy --- and sent the odd-number matches on court knowing that Yale only needed two matches for the win.

It was loud home-court support for the underdog Elis all evening. "This is the way college squash should be played," 20-year coach David Talbott told SquashTalk yesterday. "There was lots of energy, lots of noise, lots of positive support. It was thunderously loud, but not out of control."

This was the finest moment yet for the Brady Squash Center, which was opened in the winter of 1999. Two of the project's masterminds, Yale's Henry Chauncey and squash legend and Yale grad Treddy Ketcham. were on had to witness the kind of rocking energy level they had envisioned as the squash center project developed.

Harvard

The Yale men thus ended a great regular season with their first win over archrival Harvard in 12 years on a magical night at the Brady Squash Center. The Bulldogs beat the Crimson 6-3 and completed the campaign with a 17-2 overall record, 5-1 in Ivy League play - second behind princeton. The Bulldogs avenged a 9-0 loss at Cambridge last February and head into the weekend's team championships seeded third.

NISRA Draw and Results        

Yale 6 - Harvard 3 individual match results:

1. Anshul Manshanda (Y) def James Bullock (H) 3-0
2. Peter Grote (Y) def Dylan Patterson (H) 3-2
3. Ziggy Whitman (H) def Josh Schwartz (Y) 3-0
4. Dave Berry (H) def Ryan Byrnes (Y) 3-2
5. Michael Blumberg (H) def (Y) 3-0
6. Aftab Mathur (Y) def Tom Storch (H) 3-0
7. Gavin Cumberbatch (Y) def Asher Hochberg (H) 3-1
8. def Tomo Hamakawa (H) 3-0
9. Tim Wyant (Y) def Abraham (H) 3-0

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