M. Squash Tops F&M, Penn

What's the sound of two teams being trampled upon by a squad of determined players?

Squash. Squash.

This weekend the Harvard men's squash team demonstrated its intensity and depth, beating Franklin & Marshall, 7-2, on Friday and Penn, 6-3, on Saturday.

The Franklin & Marshall courts were hot and the stands were packed with what Coach John Anz called "one of the most disturbing and riotous crowds I've ever seen." But the racquetmen rose to the occasion, silencing the crowd with their style and skill.

At first, the crowd went wild when number-one player Jon Bernheimer lost his first game to Penn's Yogesh Panchal, 17-16.

Although Bernheimer lost his match, 3-1, Co-Captain Doug Lifford stomped on Rich Fischer, 3-0, and Faroque Pandole played on to a sweet victory, 3-0, at the number-three spot.

With Johnny Kaye getting squeezed out in a 3-2 loss to Sam Crew, the Crimson dove to the depths of its team to haul up a treasure chest of victories. Jeremy Fraiberg, in his second game back since an injury, silenced the crowd so much you could hear the sound of the opponents matches dropping as Fraiberg managed a 3-0 victory.

Nor was the crowd cheering when George Polsky, Frank Huerta, John Masland and Seth Handy battled and beat their Diplomat opponents in a series of intense and successful matches. Handy toyed with the sounds of Diplomat-ic silence, losing his first two games, and then squeezing out of a tie-breaker to win the last game of the day.

Having learned the way of the Diplomat, the team then undiplomatically shook the Quakers' record, storming on to a 6-3 win.

The Crimson once again displayed its intense determination to fight and beat the odds. With the team's top three players losing to the talented top trio of Quakers, the Crimson had to rely once again on the team depth to pull out a win over the Quakers.

Bernheimer, playing number-one Ridolfo Rodrigues, who Huerta described as "the best player in the country," won his first game, but couldn't hold the lead.

Fortunately, the backbone of the team, playing four through nine, was strong enough to win the next six matches.

Yet again, Fraiberg played strong squash, inspiring George Polsky to say, "He sucked out every bit of oxygen in the court, and suffocated his opponent. I do believe I saw paramedics after the match."

Polsky was referring to coach Dave Fish's strategy called O2, in which players try to "suck out as much oxygen from the court as possible" by tiring their opponents by forcing them to play the entire court.

And so, Harvard dominance lives on, despite rambunctious crowds, poor court conditions, and a little fatigue. Now it's time to prepare for the showdown at Hemenway Gymnasium on Wednesday against Yale, which beat Princeton Friday.

"It's a perfect opportunity to avenge our loss to Princeton," Anz said. "We'll fight like hell. If our guys lose to Yale and they're able to walk out on the courts afterwards, then they didn't play how they should have."