Feb 16th ,
Cambridge MA -
 |
Yale's
Aaron Fuchs from South Africa. (photo:©2007
Debra Tessier) |
You compete for four months. You train all
year. You constantly perfect. You hit on your own. You practice
against your teammates. Simply put: You work constantly.
So things are bound to get intense when you are fighting
to prove you are the best. You thrive on it. The crowd loves
it. Just another collegiate squash player for three days
at Nationals.
Sure there are different levels, of skill
and work ethic, but nobody wants to lose so everyone tries
their best.
For George Washington that meant avenging
a regular season loss against Connecticut College, with a
bit of emphasis at 7-2.
"We lost to them at Wesleyan so it was kind of a grudge
match between us," said No. 9 Peter Creech.
 |
Saturday's
crowd numbered in the thousands (photo:©2007
Debra Tessier) |
Creech won his
match complete with two shutout games, 9-0, 2-9, 9-4, 9-0,
likely putting to rest that grudge for him.
Penn showed their
resolve, defeating Dartmouth 9-0 after losing 7-2 to Yale
yesterday.
"Yale dominated us yesterday," said Penn head coach Craig
Thorpe-Clark. "We didn't have the answers for them. Today
we came out of the box. Dartmouth is a great team. Everyone
played well and we had one of our best performances of the
season."
Penn faces fifth seeded University of Western
Ontario on Sunday, who defeated Williams 5-4. Williams will
play Dartmouth for seventh place.
"We played well," said Williams' head coach Zafi Levy. "We
lost to a better team. We had a good chance to win at number
eight. Bernard (Yaros) was up 2-0, and we knew that would
be an important match for us. We lost to Dartmouth 7-2 during
the regular season, so we need to avenge that loss to finish
seventh."
THE BATTLE FOR # NINE
 |
Princeton's
David Letourneau beat Yale's Samuel (photo:©2007
Debra Tessier) |
Hoping to claim ninth
will be Rochester, after just missing out on a chance in
the A Division. Rochester's top four once again dominated,
but the team proved there is more to them than a solid top
of the lineup by clinching victories at 5, 7 and 8.
Rochester will meet Bates to determine
the winner of the Hoehn Cup. The teams had a close regular
season match with Rochester prevailing 5-4. Bates pulled
out a close win over Cornell on Saturday, winning 5-4. The
back courts at Harvard were packed with spectators whose
enthusiasm was enough to make those watching Trinity and
Harvard on the glass court wonder what was so exciting next
door. Four matches that went to five games, including a default
by Bates when a player got sick while up in the fifth was
their answer.
TRINITY OVER HARVARD
Not that the Trinity
Harvard action did not draw plenty of attention itself. Players
at nine, six and three took the courts first, with Harvard's
Niko Hrdy and Trinity's Manek Mathur playing on the glass
court. Hrdy was playing up one spot as No. 2 Verdi DiSesa
was injured. Hrdy took the first game. In the second his
racquet met Mathur's right cheek on his follow through. The
refs gave a let to Mathur. Mathur was down for several minutes,
but after being looked at by trainers, completed the match,
taking the second game 9-7 and the next two 9-2, 9-2. The
contact got fans of both teams riled up, but Mathur actually
used its effects to improve on his game.
 |
Detter
won decisively for Trinity over Harvard (photo:©2007
Debra Tessier) |
"It helped me because it woke me up," he said. "I
was playing rubbish squash. I was trying to focus so I wouldn't
think about the pain. I started finding my depth and moving
up on the T. It was much better because my head was in it."
The
teams had a couple of close matches, the tightest being at
No. 4 between Harvard's Eliot Buchanan and Trinity's Andres
Vargas. The two traded the first four games with Buchanan
drawing first blood. In the fifth Vargas pulled away at 2
all and won 9-2. Vargas used his speed to retrieve shots
from every corner. At 6-2 he ended up on the ground while
grabbing a shot in the middle of the court, only to manage
to get up and to the back right in time to hit a winning
shot.
PRINCETON TOPS YALE IN A LONG AFTERNOON
 |
Princeton's
camptain, Brendan Bascom (photo:©2007
Debra Tessier) |
The
final that many predicted all year will come to fruition
on Sunday when Trinity will meet Princeton. Princeton played
a determined Yale team and for the first time this season,
dropped games to another Ivy League team. Yale came out looking
confident on Saturday. Number nine Naisadh Lalwani secured
Yale's first game and match over Princeton, defeating Phillip
Sopher 9-6, 9-7, 9-4.
"I was down 6 love in the first," Lalwani said. "It
went by so quickly. Then I became steadier and more structured.
The second was pretty close with long rallies at 7 all. In
the third I started attacking more because I was up 2-0."
On
court at the same time as Lalwani was his teammate John Fulham,
playing Princeton's David Letourneau at No. 3. Fulham had
an impressive win on Saturday against Penn's Mark Froot and
it appeared he might do the same against Letourneau, as he
jumped out to an 8-2 lead. Fulham failed to convert on four
match balls and Letourneau made a steady comeback, eventually
winning 10-8. Letourneau took the second easily. The third
began as a battle: the two served a combined 10 times at
4-5 in the third, until Fulham tinned and Letourneau routed
off four points to win the game and match.
"In the first we played tight, straight squash, and I couldn't
do a lot to hurt him so it got stagnant for a while," Letourneau
said. "My backhand length was quite good in the second and
third, and I chose my opportunities better."
The marathon
match between the two schools belonged to Colin Campbell
and Peter Sopher, who were on court for approximately 100
minutes. When Campbell won the fifth 9-3, the two received
a loud appreciative applause in response to their outstanding
play and effort.
Princeton's No. 1, Mauricio Sanchez, who
is ranked second in the intercollegiate, allowed just four
points during his match against Max Samuel. Sunday he is
likely to be on court a bit longer when he faces No. 1 Baset
Chaudrhy, who defeated him 3-0 in their last meeting.
"I learned a lot in that match," Sanchez said. "The
Princeton guys that lost learned a lot, and the Trinity players
probably did too."
Whether Princeton learned enough to end
The Streak will be discovered tomorrow. The two teams that
stood out in the regular season continued to do so throughout
Nationals. Clearly whoever walks off the court as National
Champions on Sunday will have done so by defeating another
exceptional team.
|
