January 19th, New Haven, CT

Bates and Bowdoin's men's teams, playing in the open stages of a "round robin" extravaganza involving almost 20 teams at Yale in New Haven, CT, scored major upsets which threw the men's ranking picture into confusion.

Bates (currently ranked 12th) who had upset #5 ranked Williams last week, continued their demonstration of strength and depth with a 5-4 upset of #8 Cornell Friday.

Bates #1 and team leader Ricky Weisskopf fell in straight games to Cornell's Canadian star Chris Sachvie, but it was Bates superior depth with made the difference yesterday, as Matt Marchisotto at #5, Nick Echerverria at #7, Chip Russel at #8 and Deacon Chapin at # 9 scored crucial wins to accompany Sean Wilkinson's win for Bates at #2.

They followed that up with a 9-0 win over Navy on Saturday and a 7-2 victory over F&M. With four tough matches in one weekend, Bates suffered only one loss, 9-0 to Trinity. Tempered against Bates' earlier losses to #14 Rochester and # 7 Dartmouth, the wins over the weekend throw the rankings picture totally up for grabs, but give Bates a strong claim to at least #8.

"We are hoping to keep improving, to get better each time we step onto the court," said Bates Assistant Coach Wynn Hohlt. "We want to maintain our confidence."

Rochester, a rapidly improving team who had defeated Bates 5-4 last week, withdrew from the round robin after several highly rated teams refused to set matches with the Yellowjackets. Yale cancelled their match with Rochester.

"The Mayor's Cup (during the Tournament of Champions) came up at the last minute for Yale, which they felt was a great opportunity for their players and for college squash," said Rochester Head Coach Martin Heath. "They wanted their full team available to play in our match. Because of Ivy League rules for number of matches, the players who were in the Mayor's Cup would not be available for our match. We are hoping Yale will come up to Rochester to play us next year."

Heath made the decision to withdraw from the tournament because it would have cost his program $7,000 to travel to Yale, and play only Tufts and Northeastern.

In a Saturday afternoon match, Williams lost 7-2 to Penn and is set to play Dartmouth Wednesday, which should clarify the picture somewhat.

"As far as rankings go, there is almost no point in even looking at it now, with so much of the season left," Heath said. "I think 6-8 are up for grabs; with us beating Bates, and Bates beating Williams. I think at the moment, if Dartmouth beats Williams that puts us in a good position."

But with the Bates wins over Williams and Cornell, the inability of Rochester to get either of those two squads to meet them leaves a gaping uncertainty in the rankings picture.

POLAR BEARS THRIVE WITHOUT ICE

Meanwhile, the Bowdoin Polar Bear men (currently #13) scored an almost as significant upset, as they defeated #10 Navy by a convincing 6-3 score. Navy and Bowdoin have become close rivals in recent seasons, but this win was convincing with only one match going to five games.

Most of the other matches taking place this weekend, at New Haven and elsewhere, unfolded according to ranking order expectations.

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