Trinity-Harvard:
Mens Report
Womens Report

Denison Meets Dayton - Plays and sees world class squash

by Max Laverty, Feb 2, 2005© 2005 CSA and SquashTalk LLC

Because Denison has to travel such a large distance to find a college match there are gaps in the season without many matches. Denison relies on adult tournaments in the surrounding area for good competition. This year, the team traveled to Dayton to participate in the well established, Revenge of the Baby Boomer's Open in Dayton. This amateur tournament is held in conjunction with both a PSA and WISPA event.

The Denison players had a wonderful time meeting the likes of Jonathon Power, Amr Shabana, Peter Nicol and Mohamed Abbas. The pros were more than willing to give advice and inspiration both on and off of the court.

Denison's most successful player in the tournament was Arif Sheikh who ran all the way to the Men's 4.5 finals, losing in a tight match to a tough, Chris Hanson. Kevin Burkardt and Andrew Snell made it into to quarterfinals and second round of the Men's 4.5, respectively. Niklas Follin had a tight match in the first round with the eventual 4.0 finalist.

Nick Pellegrin had a heartbreaker, loosing in five games in the first round in the Men's 4.0. Kendell Anders braved the Men's 3.5 draw only to lose in the second round in a touching five game match to the eventual champion in the 3.5's. Max Laverty lost his first round match in a close-fought four games, to a teaching pro from Georgia in the Men's 5.5 draw. Ankur Gupta, Denison's #1 player, lost in a well contested four games match to a teaching pro from Cincinnati, Ohio in the second round of the Men's 5.5.

The Dayton Squash Center is a gorgeous facility and everyone was willing to help the Denison team out. A special thanks goes out to Julian Welling, Randy Foltz and Charlie Johnson for putting on such a great event. Denison would also like to thank Mark Brady and the other major sponsors of the tournament, who allowed both Denison and the other amateur players the chance to see the worlds best squash players, live.