Squash To Take On Killer P's

Despite winning at Amherst Wednesday night, the Harvard men's and women's squash teams are undoubtedly still reeling from last weekend's heartbreaking 5-4 losses to Trinity College.

One way to ease the pain in the interim would be to win the Ivy League Championships. To that end, the Crimson will visit Penn and Princeton this weekend for matches that will undoubtedly decide the hotly-contested

crowns.

"The teams are all very well-matched," said Harvard Coach Satinder Bajwa. "It will really come down to whoever prepares the best and performs to the best of their ability."

Last year, Penn-Princeton weekend proved disastrous for the Crimson, as the men and women lost the league championships to the Tigers and Quakers, respectively. This time, the Crimson enters knowing that they can compete with anyone after last week's close losses.

"The main thing we got out of [the losses] is that both teams believe they can beat the best out there," Bajwa said.

The Harvard women entered the Trinity match as the No. 1 in the country, only to come a few points short of validating that ranking against the No. 2 Bantams. Penn and Princeton, the third- and fourth-ranked squads, round out the top-tier of women's squash programs.

Penn is led by sophomore No. 1 Runa Reta. Reta devastated the Crimson in last year's pivotal contest, and has only gotten better since then. Last week, she handed Princeton's three time All-American Julia Beaver her first ever dual-match loss. In upsetting the nation's best player, Reta led the Quakers to a convincing 6-3 team victory.

Louisa Hall will likely have the unenviable task of facing Reta next. The freshman phenom, ranked No. 5 in the nation, has shown poise beyond her years while playing No. 1 in her freshman campaign.

Junior Margaret Elias and sophomore Carlin Wang will play No. 2 and No. 3 against a Quaker team that boasts five top-20 ranked players. In order for Harvard to prevail, the Crimson will need strong performances from its entire lineup.

Against Princeton, Harvard will have to contend with an undoubtedly angry Beaver. A two-time national champion, Beaver is an overpowering presence at the top spot. However, the Tigers as a whole lack of depth of the other elite teams. Consequently, strong performances from positions 4 through 9 will again be key.

Having narrowly missed an opportunity to exorcise the demons of last year's National Championship loss to Trinity on Saturday, the Crimson men (6-1, 3-0 Ivy) will look to erase another tough memory from the 2000 season--the Tigers' clinching of the Ivy League Championship at the Murr Center. In that contest, Princeton's Peter Yik defeated Harvard's Tim Wyant in a memorable marquee matchup.

Wyant and Yik are gone, but the quality of both the rivalry and the play remains very high. Yik's younger brother, David, is now a sophomore and one of the nation's best players. He anchors the Tigers lineup, one that has not lost a dual meet so far this year.

Harvard hopes to change that. Although the team lacks the marquee player it once had in Wyant, co-captains Deepak Abraham and Shondip Ghosh lead a very deep and talented Crimson squad. Among the brightest stories this year has been that of junior Pete Karlen.

Karlen has recently defeated two of the top five players in the country, including a 3-0 blanking of Trinity All-American Lefike Ragontse on Saturday. Although generally not regarded as a superstar player at the start of the season, Karlen is beginning to play like one.

"I didn't expect him to win so quickly, but I was not surprised that he won," Bajwa said. "You get what you put in, and Peter has worked very hard."

Penn's men's team is less feared than its women's counterpart, but could provide the Crimson with challenges at several spots in the lineup. Still, the men's match against the Quakers will likely be the least nervewracking contest in a jampacked weekend.