Trinity #1, Again in 2005
Feb 28, 2005, by Ron Beck
SquashTalk Independent News Service © 2005 all Rights Reserved;

Seventh Title for Trinity College
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Forty four squash teams converged on Harvard, Northeastern and MIT squash centers this weekend for the biggest-ever National College Team Championships. Trinity came away with their seventh National title. And with six different titles being decided, first time entrant University of Washington came away with the Emerging Teams title. Plus in a Cinderella end to a bittersweet season, Princeton, who had slumped to number seven in the country in December after losing to Cornell, had an incredible end to their '05 campaign, as they upset #3 Yale and muscled into the national #3 position.

WASHINGTON HUSKIES WIN EMERGING TEAMS

By late Sunday Morning, a lot of squash had already been played with national titles being contested in six different divisions. Early Sunday morning, Northeastern University, who were fielding a team for the very first time, were contesting 37th place with New York's Fordham University - Fordham won. And by the time the Trinity and Harvard players were ready to warm up for national bragging rights, University of Washington had topped Notre Dame in the sixth ('emerging teams') division, Colgate had edged Virginia for the fifth (Chaffee) division, and Colby had scored an extremely closely-fought 5-4 win over Tufts for the third (Summers) division crown.

HARVARD FAITHFUL HOPE FOR A REVERSAL
The Harvard faithful started streaming into the Harvard Squash Center at about 10:30 Sunday morning, a full hour and a half before the Harvard Crimson men's squash team were scheduled to face the defending champion Trinity Bantams. Trinity had already beaten Harvard 8-1 a month earlier (Feb 3rd) here at Harvard's Murr Center, and they well knew the challenge in beating a team two straight times in their home courts. But coach Paul Assaiante always has his team peaking at the right times and all the signs looked positive, as the Trinity nine had looked confident but not over confident in their strong 8-1 win over Princeton in the semi final round. Meanwhile Harvard had looked almost as dominant in a 7-2 win over a strong Yale side. The Harvard fans and alumni were buoyantly looking for a strong performance by their team.

On Feburary 3rd, the crucial win for Trinity against Harvard had come at the #2 position, where Reggie Schonborn had outplayed and outcompeted last year's intercollegiate singles finalist, Will Broadbent in five tough games. Because that Feb 3rd match had been played with a "five court system" the even matches went on first, and the Schonborn win came at an absolutely crucial moment, turning the momentum in Trinity's favor.

This time, Harvard had had a lineup shift, with Will Broadbent now at #4 and consequently matching Schonborn up against Harvard's Ilan Oren, who had beaten Schonborn in last year's nationals. And in a bit of gamesmanship, Harvard had proposed to rest Broadbent for their first round match against Cornell, a move that was disallowed by the tournament committee but that further fired up the Trinity team.

BLUMBERG FLAWLESS AGAIN

With the national finals being played with a "three court system", the first matches on court were the #3, #6 and #9 matches. The Harvard lineup shuffle had moved Crimson senior Michael Blumberg up to #3, and he responded, gaining a quick and decisive win over Trinity's Shaun Johnstone. At #9, Vishal Kapoor was much too strong for Mihir Sheth, whom Harvard had moved down one position, while Canadian Jason Delierre, playing #6 for the Crimson was too erratic and tentative for the intensely focused Jacques Swanepoel. So the match stood at 2 matches to 1 in favor of Trinity as Schonborn and Oren took the court.

While Oren took a strong 8-3 lead over Schonborn in the first game, Bantam sophomore Eric Wadhwa was struggling mightily with Harvard's Chessin Gertler, and they key to the overall match was clearly taking shape with these two contests.

The thousand-plus fans were packed like sardines in the Barnaby squash center, which features great squash courts and large galleries but the interest was so high that the Trinity and Harvard supporters struggled to move from match to match and catch glimpses of the action as the momentum see-sawed back and forth.

RELENTLESS REGGIE

Schonborn, an enthusiastic, upbeat player, never seems to panic or to approach desperation, and rather sticks to a game plan and believes in that game plan. Schonborn's plan was to drive Ilan back and then force him forward. Increasingly, Oren was doing more of the work. Schonborn dug in at 8-3, daringly forcing Oren forward, decisively volleying him back. And, as had been the case in the previous meeting at Cambridge, the Trinity Bantam supporters were more visible and vocal and urged Schonborn on until he pulled even and incredibly took the first game from Harvard's Oren, 10-9.

This time in the second game, it was Oren who came from behind. Working much harder than Schonborn needed to, and eventually forcing a few key errors off of short shots that evened the match at one all, Oren won the second 10-9. The match had now lasted almost 45 minutes, and on the adjoining court, Eduardo Pereiera of Trinity, who presents a whirlwind of activity on court, stymied Harvard's Hochberg. It was Pereira's use of all four walls, and his creativity on almost every point, that outdid Hochberg who played an excellent game, but a straight game that rarely surprised Pereira. It was Hochberg usually on the defense, and when he attacked, Pereira's bursts of speed put Hochberg at the disadvantage. With Pereira winning that contest, the overall tie stood at 3-1 in Trinity's favor.

Meanwhile, on the third court, Harvard's Gertler had evened his contest at 1-1 with a 10-9 second game. If both Gertler and Oren could win, the tie would be knotted at 3-3, but if both Harvard players lost, the contest would be over.

WADHWA STANDS TALL
Trinity's Eric Wadhwa looked stronger and more comfortable in the cauldron of noise and heat than Gertler, who was looking increasingly tentative and by the time Schonborn took a 2-1 lead over Oren, Wadhwa had won making the score 4-1.

But the match was still very much in the balance, and Reggie Schonborn was again in the position of getting the crucial win for Trinity, as he had three weeks before. Skillman award winner Schonborn, who was playing literally error-free squash kept moving the determined Oren to the front corners of the court on attacking boasts that moved with the severe angle that Schonborn's height allowed him to impart. For much of the afternoon, Oren was able to match Schonborn drive for drive, boast for boast, but suddenly Schonborn's flying boasts were yielding off balance responses from Oren, and soon outright errors. Schonborn, calm and collected as he had begun, reeled in the Isreali national team member Oren, and collected the winning fifth match. Trinity had their championship, with former Trinity president Evan Dobelle looking on with satisfaction.

BERNARDO BARES HIS HEART
As the Harvard fans began to drift away, the Trinity partisans wanted more. And there was more to come. With the seedings for next weekend's individual championships at stake, Harvard #1 Siddharthe Suchde took the court against Trinity's Bernardo Samper.

The tall, thin, compact Suchde presented a complete contrast to the short, wild-haired Samper and their games contrast as well - Suchde playing a classical style with Samper playing a frenetic fast-paced attacking barrage. Samper's frantic speed and desire to attack yielded only a barrage of mistakes throughout the first two games and it looked like Suchde might be about to collect a consolation point for Harvard. But Bernardo Samper, who brings a high level of personal pride and style on court, listened to his coaches, relaxed his game, and took energy from the highly-engaged Trinity fans.

As Bernardo surged, the crowd roared, Suchde became tentative and the tide turned. With Suchde's coach in the TV broadcast booth, Suchde began to look more and more lost, and incredibly, on his home court, appeared to be playing an away match with most of the noise and support for his opponent, Samper.

Suchde, a member of the Indian National Team, is a tough competitor and fought and fought, but in the end he couldn't match the passion and energy that Samper brought to bear in collecting a win for pride.

It was an impressive seventh national title for Trinity, second straight over Harvard, and their 125th consecutive match win in intercollegiate play.

[See separate story on the Princeton-Yale match]

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