M. Squash Falls to Trinity at Nationals

After an injury-laden Harvard men's squash team lost the Ivy League Championship to Princeton two weeks ago, the Crimson saw the upcoming NISRA team championships as a chance for a healthier team to re-establish itself as the premier squash power in the Ivy League.

Mission accomplished.

Unfortunately, last weekend showed that the nation's best collegiate team does not belong to the Ivy League.

The Crimson avenged its loss to Princeton 6-3 before falling to the Bantams of Trinity 8-1 in the finals of the NISRA Team Championships at Yale's Brady Squash Center. With the victory, Trinity (20-0) captured its second straight national championship. Its first came last year with an identical 8-1 win over Harvard.

Harvard concludes its team season with a 14-3 record (5-1 Ivy).

First-year Harvard coach Satinder Bajwa called the weekend an overall success.

"Our loss to Princeton before was a surprise," Bajwa said. " So it was very good to play them again. And Trinity is simply a very good team."

No. 1 Trinity capped a perfect season with the win, defeating Harvard for the second time in a month. The Bantams entered the tournament as the overwhelming favorites, featuring six of last year's individual All-Americans. The Trinity roster also boasted representatives from eight different countries, who have won 11 national singles championships between them.

In light of the stiff challenge the Crimson faced, Bajwa realized that the weekend was far from lost.

"Our team's performance was impeccable," Bajwa said. "You really couldn't have asked for any more than what our players gave."

Trinity 8, Harvard 1

In Sunday's championship match, the Crimson fell to Trinity for the second time in a month. Trinity had defeated the Crimson 7-2 in a regular season match three weeks earlier.

Although the match was not close, Coach Bajwa noted that the individual matches were more hard-fought than in the previous match and more impressive since the Crimson competed under adversity.

Although junior No. 2 Deepak Abraham and freshman No. 6 Dylan Patterson had returned from injuries, junior Andrew Merrill was sidelined for the entire competition due to a bout with pneumonia.

"You need everyone in order to beat Trinity," Bajwa said. "Had Andrew been able to play, it would have taken a lot of pressure off of the other guys."

Merrill had been undefeated in individual competition, including the earlier Trinity matchup, and his absence necessitated adjustments in the lineup that made the task of defeating the Bantams even more daunting.

Despite this misfortune, Harvard put in a valiant effort. Patterson defeated Trinity No. 6 Gourav Juneja in three straight games, and juniors No. 3 Gray Witcher, No. 4 Shondip Ghosh and No. 9 Rob Pike extended their opponents to four frames before falling.

"I think that if everyone was healthy, we could have taken two or three more sets," Bajwa said.

"An 8-1 score isn't terribly close," Harvard's No. 1 co-captain Tim Wyant added. "But these were hard-fought matches against a heavily favored, more talented team."

Sunday's featured individual match pitted Wyant against two-time NISRA singles champion Marcus Cowie.

Cowie had defeated Wyant 3-1 in their previous meeting, but Wyant seemed poised for revenge after taking a thrilling first set, 17-15. However, Cowie came back to sweep the next three sets (15-9, 15-13, 15-4).

"Tim played very well," Bawja said. "We'll work in the next few days and tweak his game just a bit more to get him ready for Individuals."

The NISRA Individual Championships will be held this weekend at Williams College. Harvard will send seven players to compete in the field of sixty-four.

Harvard 6, Princeton 3

After breezing past Western Ontario 9-0 in the quarterfinals, Harvard thrashed Princeton in the semifinals, 6-3. Although Wyant lost to defending national champion Peter Yik 3-0 (17-16, 15-13, 15-8) for the second time in two weeks, the rest of Harvard's lineup carried the day. Witcher and Patterson won five-set thrillers, and Pike defeated Princeton No. 8 Harrison Gabel in three games.

"This was a great success," Wyant said. "Losing the Ivy League was very disappointing, and it was great that we redeemed ourselves."

Perhaps the most impressive victory came from co-captain Eric Lauer. Kept out of the top nine for much of the year due to Harvard's youthful depth, Lauer returned to the lineup due to Merrill's injury. He came back from a 2-1 deficit to defeat Princeton No. 9 Randolph McEvoy 3-2 (10-15, 17-15, 10-15, 15-12, 15-13).

"It was a great feeling," Lauer said afterwards. "And it was a great way for me to end my Harvard squash career."

"Eric was great," Wyant said. "Coming back the way he did, he played his heart out. We won because people played the way he did."

Although Wyant and Lauer have played their final games in team competition, Bajwa sees only good things ahead.

"Most of our top nine will still be here next year," he said. "At next year's nationals, I think we'll get even closer to the championship."

"The team only gets better from here," Wyant added. "They'll grow together and they'll be able to compete with anybody -especially Trinity."