Trinity Sweeps Squash For the First Time

It was the rematch it the players had waited a year for, but it quickly became a weekend they would rather forget.

After losing to No.1 Trinity in last year's National Championship, the No.2 Harvard men's squash team was looking for a little revenge heading into Hartford.

A weekend that started with such high hopes, however, quickly turned sour for the Crimson (9-1), who lost its first five games on route to a 7-2 thrashing at the Bantams' hands.

"Nothing specifically went wrong this weekend," freshman Dylan Patterson said. "They were simply more experienced than us and eight out of nine of their players are foreigners. They've grown up playing from a really young age and have a really big advantage there. When you compare someone who grew up playing in France with someone from the Bronx, there's a big difference."

The top of the Trinity lineup simply proved too tough for the Crimson, as the Bantam top five swept their matches by a combined score of 15-2.

Harvard No. 1 Tim Wyant had the best match of any of the Crimson front five facing off against the two-time National Champion, senior Marcus Cowie.

After losing the first set by a narrow 15-13 margin, captain Wyant went down 2-0 but stayed alive, taking the third set by a convincing 15-8 score before eventually losing to Cowie, 3-1.

"We were huge underdogs," Patterson said. "I don't know if we expected to win, but we were definitely hoping to pool off an upset. It's obviously a tough loss for us to swallow."

The bottom half of the Harvard lineup fared better against its Trinity counterparts, with No. 6 Shondip Ghosh and No. 7 Andrew Merrill taking their matches, 3-1 and 3-2 respectively.

However, Harvard had hoped that the bottom half of the lineup would fare better.

Whereas Trinity's strength lies in its top few players, Harvard is generally considered to have a deeper lineup and the Crimson was hoping that its strength down the order would prove the deciding factor.

The bottom of the lineup is composed primarily of players who were in the middle of the order last year, but have dropped down as the team has improved this season.

Merrill, who defeated Gaurav Juneja 3-2 in the closest match of the day, was No. 4 last year but has dropped into the seven spot on the team this season.

Despite the apparent strength in the bottom of the lineup, the Crimson didn't not fare as well as expected down the order where it had expected to capitalize on the shakier half of the Trinity lineup.

Harvard No. 9 Rob Pike lost another close match, 3-1, losing to Loua Coetzee by a single point, 17-16, in the fourth and final set.

"In the one-on-one matches, there were a couple of games that could have gone either way," Patterson said. "Both Tim and Rob lost but it could have been reversed. That would have given us four wins and all we would have needed then was another victory somewhere to win it all."

Despite the setback the Crimson are confident that it can rebound quickly from this defeat. With games against Amherst, Penn, and Princeton coming up this week, however, the Crimson won't have much time to rest.

Although the squad is more than half way through its season, this is the most important week of the season for Harvard as it gears up for the Team National Championship tournament at Yale Feb.25.

Next to Trinity, Princeton is probably the most important matchup of the season and the Crimson are looking anxiously anticipating the showdown next Sunday.

"Princeton next Sunday is a huge match," Patterson said. "And we want the stands in the Murr Center to be filled."

Even with the loss to Trinity this weekend, the Crimson will likely get another shot at the Bantams at the National Championship tournament.

"Who knows what can happen in the playoffs," Patterson said. "With a bit of luck, I think we can take them next and with injuries, who knows what might happen. On top of that, they're graduating a lot of seniors, so the future looks even brighter next year."

WOMEN

Last season, the Harvard women's squash team squeaked out a narrow 5-4 victory over Trinity.

This year's matchup was just as close. But in a reversal of roles, the No.4 Bantams stole a narrow 5-4 victory over the No. 3 Crimson (5-1) to avenge last year's defeat.

It was the first time that Trinity has beaten both the men's and women's squash teams at the same match.

After the first round of matches, the match was deadlocked 2-2 but in the final round the top half of the Trinity order came through to pull out the upset victory.

Once again, it was the top half of the Trinity lineup that did in the Crimson, as the Bantams took five of the top six matches.

No. 4 Ella Witcher was the sole Crimson winner in the top half of the lineup, while the bottom four in the order continued to show Harvard's depth.

No. 8 Frances Holland and No.9 Katie Gregory won their respective matches, while No. 7 Lindsay Coleman pulled out a narrow 3-1 victory after dropping the first set in a very close four set match.