Squash Rolls Over Trinity in Blowouts

For Harvard, squash is not only a vegetable familiar to Thanksgiving but a serious, competitive game and one in which both the Harvard men's and women's team typically reign.

The women's team continued to rule the national squash scene yesterday by conquering Trinity in Hartford, 9-0. The Crimson actually won 10 matches, but the extra match was simply icing on the cake. The men, in the meantime, topped Trinity 7-2.

"Everyone played really well," captain Polly Butler said. "Everyone's match was pretty decisive and everyone's game was strong. We did what we needed to do."

Butler definitely did what she needed to by winning her games in the fourth spot, 9-2, 9-5, 9-3, in a "pretty basic match."

In the top spot, senior Jordanna Fraiberg handled her opponent nicely as well for a 9-1, 9-2, 9-0 win--again in a straightforward match.

"Some of the matches were close but it was a fairly decisive win," Fraiberg said. "It was nice because this match was our first with a regular lineup. We started slow but we're getting stronger as the season goes along."

But this win did not come all that easily for the Crimson. A couple of weekends ago, after a weak start in an scrimmage against several Ivy League teams, the Crimson were unsure how their season would turn out.

"We have a lot to live up to from last year," Butler said. "Also in the scrimmage we were missing two of our top players who have just returned. But we came back last week and beat Brown decisively. That win gave us a lot of confidence to go out on the court to face Trinity."

Trinity ended up second in the country to Harvard and again is one of the stronger teams this year, Fraiberg said.

On the men's side, Harvard lost only two matches on the way to an easy win. Third player sophomore Mike Oh was cleaned, 3-0, and top player sophomore Tal Ben-Shachar dropped his match to freshman phenom Mike Bittner, 3-2.

"Tal was up, 12-9, in the fifth game," co-captain Jon Karlen said. "I thought he played pretty well. That kid's pretty good."

Junior Mike Masland turned in a strong performance in the fifth position in the win, taking his match 3-1.