Injuries Doom Ivy Title Hopes of M. Squash

For the third consecutive year, the men’s squash Ivy League Championship came down to a riveting 5-4 decision between Harvard and Princeton. And for those hoping that the home-court advantage would swing the match’s outcome in the Crimson’s favor, the road team triumped for the third straight year as well.

The Crimson men (6-2, 4-1 Ivy) lost the league championship with a split of the weekend’s action, falling 5-4 to Princeton on Sunday after cruising past Penn 8-1 on Saturday.

The Harvard women’s squash team (6-1, 5-0 Ivy) destroyed their Penn and Princeton counterparts in identical 9-0 victories, setting up a showdown wth Yale for the league title on Feb. 20.

The men sorely missed co-captain Peter Karlen, who is out for the remainder of the season after sustaining an eye injury in practice this week. Karlen had recently returned to action after missing several weeks with a foot injury. While the team had been optimistic that he would be able to help the Crimson down the championship stretch, Karlen’s collegiate career has come to an early close.

“The foot was feeling better, and now it’s just this,” Karlen said.

Karlen was out of action, but the captain was still a vocal presence in the stands as sophomore No. 2 James Bullock upset defending national champion David Yik, 3-0, giving the undermanned Harvard squad early hope of beating the Tigers.

But in the end, the Crimson lost three of five odd-numbered matches and the Ancient Eight crown.

Princeton

On the men’s side, the Crimson lost a heartbreaker to the Tigers, who won the Ivy League championship for the second time in three years. Harvard defeated Princeton last year 5-4 to claim the title.

The most exciting victory for the Crimson was in the No. 2 spot, where Bullock defeated Yik 9-5, 9-7, 9-6.

Though it was decided in the minimum three games, the match featured lengthy points and many replays. Bullock was able to keep his composure, even when the same point at 7-6 in the third game was replayed three times.

“I knew going into the match that it was going to be a tough match, and that I’d have to stay mentally focused and not let any of the calls get to me,” Bullock said. “I had a good start in the first game, and I kept that going even though he fought back extremely hard.”

The outcome of Sunday’s match was decided at the bottom of the lineup, with the Tigers pulling out come-from-behind victories in the eighth and ninth spots. Those matches, coupled with Harvard junior Dylan Patterson’s loss at No. 1, showed Princeton to be too much for the short-handed Crimson team.

“Coming in with [Karlen], we were even, but with him having to drop out, we were the underdogs,” Harvard Coach Satinder Bajwa said. “I think our men should be very proud of how they performed. We could have lost more badly than we did, but we could have also won the match, and they should be very proud of that.”

Before the start of play, Bajwa honored the seniors on the squad—Tomohiro Hamakawa, who began his career at Harvard as a walk-on, the injured Karlen, and his co-captain David Barry.

Harvard has a ten-day break before its final match at Yale on Feb. 20. After that, the NISRA Championship starts on Feb. 22.

In its final home match of the season, the women’s squash team gave itself a goodbye present with a 27-0 trouncing of Princeton.

Again spotlighting the seniors before the match, Bajwa and the Murr faithful recognized Carlin Wing and co-captains Margaret Elias and Colby Hall, who finished their careers at the Murr Center with strong victories.

“Everyone played really well both days,” Hall said. “We could have come in here more complacent, but everyone was very sharp and focused.”

The most dominating performance on Sunday belonged to Harvard No. 1 sophomore Louisa Hall, who allowed Princeton sophomore Annie Rein-Weston to score just a single point against her.

Following Hall’s 3-2 victory on Saturday against Penn, Bajwa said he has high hopes for the upcoming Howe Cup, to be held at Yale this weekend. The Crimson will likely face Penn in the first round, with rival Trinity lurking in the finals.

“Trinity and Harvard are very even,” Bajwa said. “If [Hall] starts finding her feet like that, then we can start to compete at the No. 1 level with Trinity. We’re headed in the right direction.”

Harvard Women 9, Penn Women 0

Harvard Men 8, Penn Men 1

The Crimson women blew past the No. 10 Quakers on Saturday. The only match that was ever in doubt was the No. 1 tilt between Hall and Penn junior Runa Reta, ranked third and fourth in the national polls, respectively.

Reta—who was ranked second in the preseason polls before taking the fall semester off to study abroad—stormed out of the gate and won the first two games easily. Hall’s drop shots were not falling and she generally seemed out of her rhythm. But she regained her composure in a heartstopping 10-9 third frame, and dominated the next two games, 9-1 and 9-4.

It was the second time in three weeks that Hall had taken three straight games against Reta. On Jan. 27, Hall came back against Reta in the third-place game of the Betty Constable Tournament at Princeton.

“I had this same thing happen before and knew I could do it,” Hall said. “So I went back in feeling pretty confident.”

The rest of the team swept through the Penn lineup without losing a game.

The Crimson men had a similarly easy time against Penn. At No. 1, junior Dylan Patterson held his own against tenth-ranked Richard Repetto through two games, but the Penn freshman and former Junior National champion overpowered Patterson down the stretch and won, 3-1.

Bullock began his perfect weekend with a three-game win, and fellow sophomore Ziggy Whitman also won at No. 3.