Boston BSPA UK Squash Open 2008

ROCHESTER FALLS SHORT IN BID FOR TOP FIVE

Every once in a while you see a sporting event that is so hard fought and so well played that at some point it occurs to you that you are just lucky to be watching it. That was the case in the Harvard/ Rochester match December 13 at Harvard's Barnaby Courts. The College Squash Association's fourth and fifth ranked teams displayed why they sit near the top of the field, and why they are ranked so closely together. When the dust cleared, Harvard, playing after a shockingly convincing loss to Cornell, had come through a crucial test, and Rochester had discovered how challenging it is to dent the record of tho top five CSA teams, especially when meeting them on their home courts.

The 4-wall glass court may have proved Rochester's undoing

Fresh off an 8-1 win Thursday over Dartmouth, Rochester entered the match confident. Harvard scored the first win, as No. 9 William Ahmed (H) defeated Edwin Goncharuk (R) in three. Reed Endresen (H) put Harvard up 2-0 by defeating Joe Chapman (R) 3-1 in a match highlighted by excellent retrieving from the two very fit players.

"He was a better player," Chapman said. "It was a very long match. We are both hard workers rather than shooters."

At this point everyone's focus had shifted to the glass court, as Niko Hrdy (H) and Fred Reid (R) were engaged in a physical match with constant debate over lets and strokes. Hrdy went up 2-0 but Reid calmed down and started making more shots and fewer mistakes.

"Fred was playing a control game, and I told him to stop trying to control so much," Rochester head coach Martin Heath said of his between game advice to Reid. "Fred started to play a little better and Niko got tense."

Hrdy said his plan going into the fifth game was to focus on every point and not give up any cheap points. It worked. The game started out close, briefly tied at 2 all. A couple good shots by Hrdy and Reid tins at critical moments, and suddenly Hrdy had won the game 9-4 and put Harvard up 3-0.

Matt Domenick (R) scored one of the day's rare one-sided wins, defeating Franklin Cohen (H) by a 3-0 score and allowing only six points in the process. Just like that, the freshman put his team on the board.

It looked as if No. 8 Alastair Smith (H) was about to add another W for Harvard and make all of the remaining matches for Rochester must-wins, but Yohay Wakabayashi (R) did what became the theme of the day, and fought back. Wakabayashi won the third 9-7 and the fourth 9-5. Just as the number threes did, the two played a physical match with constant pauses to debate calls. Members of the audience laughed when the two could not agree if Wakabayashi had stepped on Smith's shoelace or Smith had fallen on his own. In game five, Wakabayshi moved Smith around the court, holding the ball and playing drops, winning the game 9-3 and getting Rochester's second win of the day.

At the same time, Rochester's No. 4 Will Newnham had moved in front of Richard Hill (H) l. On the glass court, the Finn, Hameed Ahmed (R) was winning the first game against Harvard captain Verdi DiSesa. Ahmed was controlling the match and quickly went up 2-0. DiSesa knew something had to change if he had a chance to pull out the win.

"I tried to cut out most of the errors," DiSesa said. "When you do that, the chances are your opponent will start trying to make shots."

While Ahmed did take more shots in the third, it was DiSesa's experience and retrieving that pulled him through. DiSesa looked confident from the moment he stepped back on court, encouraging the support from the crowd behind him and seeming positively affected by the pressure. Ahmed scored early, but DiSesa dug in and suddenly the momentum had swung.

"Verdi wasn't believing in himself (in the first two games)," said Harvard assistant coach Chris Smith. "He thought he might lose. Then his athleticism and hunger kicked in."

DiSesa took the third 9-5. The two started the fourth evenly, and took turns trading tins to end three straight rallies. Eventually the two reached 7-all. At this point Rochester was leading 2-0 in the two other matches going on. Ahmed got to match point, and it looked as if Harvard's day was likely over. On match point, Ahmed sent DiSesa diving and with him still on the ground, tinned. By the end of the point, Newnham had wrapped up another win for Rochester, and Adam Perkiomaki (R) was moments away from doing the same. Not yet knowing the importance of his match, DiSesa took the next point to force a fifth game.

In between games Hrdy informed DiSesa he was in a must win situation. While this would be the place many would freeze up or make mistakes, DiSesa thrived. With the players tied at 2-all, DiSesa pulled away. Ahmed tinned at 2-4 and DiSesa did the same. With the serve back, Ahmed again hit too low. Every time he started to gain a bit of momentum, he made a mistake or DiSesa retrieved shots that looked like winners.

"Verdi was getting so much back," Heath said. "His retrieving was unbelievable."

From then on it was all DiSesa, as the senior took the game 9-4 and evened the team tally at 4 matches each.

Teammates celebrate DiSesa's comeback win

"It could have been a lot of things," Smith said of DiSesa's win. "Experience, hunger, luck, homecourt advantage. All those things spit out a win in our favor today, while tomorrow we might lose the same match."

While the match was not over yet, the look on both teams' players made it seem as if they knew what the conclusion would be. In the College Squash Association rankings, Harvard's Colin West is No. 4, while his opponent, Rochester's Jim Bristow is No. 6. Bristow should have been West's first real challenge of the year, but in front of an eerily quiet crowd, West dominated from the moment the two stepped on court. West won the first two games 9-0, 9-0. Bristow fought in the third, but it was too late, and West won 9-5.

"Colin plays such a fast pace and has such great technique," Heath said. "He didn't let Jim into any rallies."

Rochester lost all three of the matches played on the glass court.

"The glass court was our nemesis," Heath said.

Rochester does not have a glass court on their campus. Heath said his players need to get better at adapting in situations like that, and as they gain more experience playing top college teams, that should change. Reflecting on the day, Heath gave all credit to the Harvard players.

"Sometimes you've got to win ugly, he said. "It can't be pretty all the time. Sometimes you've got to run it out and keep bringing the ball back. That's what Niko and Verdi did. You can't always rely on your magic racquet to win."

Harvard now moves to 5-1 on the season, while Rochester sits at 4-1. Harvard's next match is February 4 at home against Trinity. Rochester has a packed remainder of the season, with 12 more matches. Their next match is against January 10 at Yale. If the two teams meet again at Nationals, the unpredictable match will be even more so: Harvard should have Eliot Buchanan, who had to sit out the Rochester match due to illness. In January, Rochester will be joined by Switzerland's Bennie Fischer, who played a key role in Switzerland's win over the U.S. at last summer's World University Games when he defeated Navy's All American Tucker George. Heath expects Fischer to land in the middle of the lineup.

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