Trinity Ends Men's Squash 89-Match Win Streak, 6-3; Women Triumph

If nothing else, Harvard sports fans could always take solace in the knowledge that the Crimson squash teams were the best in the country.

Frankly, the men's and women's squash programs are dynasties, winning national championship after national championship.

However, this season it seems that those halcyon days of dominance may be over.

Last weekend the women's team's 59-match unbeaten streak was halted by Princeton.

This weekend, in an even more surprising turn of events, the top-ranked men's team's awe inspiring 89-match winning streak--lasting over five years--was halted by Trinity College.

The Bantams--ranked second nationally heading into the match--seemed to dominate the Crimson with a 6-3 victory, including four 3-0 wins.

"They are very strong at every spot," said sophomore Tim Wyant--Harvard's number three player. "They had the crowd behind them. We are a young team and may be were not as prepared, mentally and physically, for the pressure and the level of play as we could have been."

Harvard's women, however, did get back on track this weekend, defeating a strong Trinity squad, 8-1.

The women gave up only one court to All-American Gail Davie, while the rest of the team won handily.

The Crimson got victories from senior Leah Ramella, juniors Stephanie Teaford, Lindsay Wilber, Ilana Eisenstein and Vanessa Hoermann and sophomores Blair Endresen and Maja Byrnes.

The homecourt advantage may have played a big part in Saturday's men's match as the Crimson was not in top form for this important contest.

"I think what put them over the hump was the fact that they seemed to pull together as a team under the pressure," said sophomore Eric Lauer.

"We didn't have that unity on Saturday. It's tough because momentum doesn't work the same way it does in other sports because everyone has an individual battle to win on their own, regardless of the situation."

In those individual battles, Harvard's top players seemed to fare the worst.

Harvard lost four of the first five courts as Wyant earned the Crimson's only win by a score of 3-1 (15-3, 15-13, 9-15, 15-8). Seniors Dan Ezra and Rishaad Bilimoria, Harvard's top two players respectively, were both beaten 3-0.

These two results may be the most important for Harvard to reverse if the team is to turn the result around.

"Both of our one and two players have beaten their opponents in the past year," Wyant said. "Our number four [freshman Deepak Abraham] lost in five games and the number five [senior Jeff Blumberg] match went to four games. The match was closer than the score, and 6-3 is relatively close anyway."

Harvard's other two wins came at the sixth and ninth spots as junior Beitchman (def. Josh Miller 15-12, 15-12, 11-15, 17-15) and freshman Andrew Merril (def. Duncan Pearson, 12-15, 15-6, 15-12, 11-15, 15-12) emerged victorious.

And so the streak ended, and the Crimson's season changed dramatically. At a point, a winning-streak becomes its own entity, something different than a season or a match. Now that streak is gone, and the players have to react to that change.

"It was very inspiring to be a part of such an excellent tradition," Lauer said. "I know losing left no one with a good feeling. Most of us are angry and ready to get back to work. I think in the long run it will make us work even harder."

"I think, first and foremost, it was disappointing, but it forces us to become more determined," Wyant said. "It heightens the challenge for us."

The challenge looms two weeks ahead. Harvard and Trinity now seem prepared to engage in a classic rivalry. The two teams squared off in the finals of last season's national championship tournament, with the Crimson emerging victorious, and are expecting to meet at the same point in this year's tournament two weeks from now.

"For the first time in a long time we will be the underdogs and that will fuel our fire," Lauer said.

"We need to work harder and become more determined to prepare for an even more difficult challenge in the nationals," Wyant said.

Ezra summed things up best when he said, "In two weeks hopefully we'll get a better result."