Men's Squash Faces Top Competition at USSRA Team Championships

Improbable victories, disappointing losses and some highly anticipated reunions made for an up-and-down weekend for the Harvard men's squash team.

Splitting its squad into two five-man units, Harvard landed 6th and 7th place finishes at the United States Squash Racquets Association (USSRA) Team Championships, hosted by Trinity College.

The Crimson was unable to defend its title as Trinity captured this year's championship in a tournament that featured collegiate, club, and professional teams. The competition featured five-man lineups instead of the nine-man rotations that are used in intercollegiate matches.

Harvard "A" cruised to a first round victory over the U.S. Macabiah Team, as Pete Karlen, James Bullock, Andrew Merrill, and Dylan Patterson swept their opponents in the No. 2-5 spots, respectively.

Merrill and Patterson continued their strong play all weekend, both finishing 3-1 in individual play as the "A" team dropped a quarterfinal match to Trinity, beat Williams College, and ended with a loss to New York "B".

Although Harvard "A" No. 1 Shondip Ghosh went winless on the weekend and Karlen managed only one victory, each faced opponents from the upper-eschelons of the collegiate and professional ranks.

In the 5th place match against New York "B", Ghosh squared off with former Harvard captain and All-American Tim Wyant '00 who is now playing professionally in England. Karlen had an equally herculean task in trying to knock off last year's intercollegiate champion and former All-American at Princeton, Peter Yik.

At the No.3 spot in that same match, Bullock took former Dennison University All-American Arif Paul to five games but was unable to prevail.

"I was very disappointed in my individual performance," Karlen said. "But the tournament was a lot tougher this year," he conceded.

Harvard "B" opened the tournament by triumphing over the U.S. Junior National Team, but followed with two straight losses to second-place Chicago and New York "B" before rebounding with a 3-2 win over Williams.

Grayson Witcher scored a huge victory in the 7th place match against the Ephs, outlasting 3 time All-American Zafrir Levy in 5 games. Thomas Storch and Ziggy Whitman were solid all weekend, combining for a perfect 8-0 individual record at the No. 4 and 5 spots, respectively.

Deepak Abraham played at the top spot for the "B" team, and while compiling a disappointing 1-3, he managed to take a game from Wyant in a grudge-match between former teammates.

"B" team No. 3 David Barry was unable to salvage any victories, but learned some lessons in Hartford that may benefit him and the team as the dual match schedule heats up again in late January.

"We saw how much we have to improve for the Trinity match," he said.

First the Crimson will have to get through Williams and Dartmouth, but if all goes as planned, the Feb. 3 showdown with defending national champion Trinity should be a dandy.