Squash Individual Titles at Stake

They couldn’t quite bring their teams national championships, but Harvard’s top five men’s and women’s squash players will be seeking individual national titles at the ISA Championships beginning today at Princeton.

Although this weekend’s event is the only individual tournament on the college schedule, the Harvard men’s and women’s squash teams are looking at the championships as an opportunity to redeem themselves for their “disappointing” (by Harvard squash standards, anyway) third- and second-place finishes, respectively, at their team championships the last two weekends.

Last week was indeed a rough one for the men’s team, which lost, 6-3, at Yale on Wednesday before being eliminated from the NISRA Team Championships by Trinity by a score of 8-1 in Saturday’s semifinals. However, the men did avenge their loss to Yale, winning Sunday’s consolation match, 8-1, to take third place.

The women had this weekend off after beating Yale, 8-1, for the Ivy League championship on Wednesday. Even that success, though, could not completely make up for the heartbreaking 5-4 loss the team suffered to Trinity in the Howe Cup finals the previous Sunday.

Indeed, the Crimson players competing this weekend will play not just for themselves, but to end their teams’ seasons on a positive note.

“We were pretty disappointed with the way the team event went, but we’re looking at this as a chance at redeeming ourselves,” sophomore Louisa Hall said.

“I think the great thing about our team is that, even though it is an individual tournament and you’re clearly playing for yourself, we’re also playing as a team,” co-captain David Barry added.

Yet, an individual event brings with it some significant differences from traditional team competitions. Without the structure that a dual match inherently provides, there is room for both intersquad friendships and rivalries to develop.

“There’s a lot more interaction between the teams, but, individually, it’s often more intense,” co-captain Margaret Elias said. “Individual tournaments are always interesting because you don’t have the [team] intros. You don’t have the long preparation. It’s you on your own in a lot of ways.”

Also, since entrants are seeded from a single pool, rather than based on their teams’ ladders, players often have the opportunity to compete against people they didn’t play during the regular season. For example, Elias, who played in the No. 2 slot for the Crimson, could face several No. 1 players from other schools, while Hall, Harvard’s top woman, may get a shot at Trinity and intercollegiate No. 2 Lynn Leong.

With 32 players competing for each national title, the eventual finalists will be required to play five matches in three days, making fatigue an important factor.

“Ideally, you want to win 3-0 and stay rested,” junior Dylan Patterson said. “The tough thing is once you’ve played someone a lot, you know their game, so it goes longer.”

Still, for most of the players, college squash has been their first experience playing on a team, so they aren’t out of their element by any means.

“[Playing individually] is actually the way most of us grew up playing, so it’s a return to the familiar,” senior Carlin Wing said.

Men

If there’s one word that comes to mind when looking at the men’s half of the draw, it’s “stacked”. The defending intercollegiate champion, Princeton junior David Yik, didn’t even finish the season No. 1 on his own team—classmate and 2001 quarterfinalist Will Evans had that honor. The man Yik beat in the final last year—Trinity co-captain Lefike Ragontse—played No. 3 for the Bantams, while undefeated sophomore Michael Ferreira played in the second slot.

Everyone’s odds-on favorite to take the title, though, is Trinity’s freshman sensation, Bernardo Samper, who has handily beaten the best in college squash all season.

Another threat to Samper is Harvard sophomore James Bullock, who beat Yik during the regular season by relying on his patience and athleticism and played Samper tough last weekend. Bullock also won the Consolation II bracket at last year’s ISA Championships.

Behind Bullock is Patterson, who has gone deeper into the tournament than his seeding predicted each of the past two years.

A potential dark horse is Harvard freshman Mike Blumberg, who beat Ragontse in five games on Saturday and has yet to lose as a collegian.

“We don’t really know where his limit is,” Patterson said.

“I don’t think anyone wants to play him; that’s for sure,” Barry said. “He just came out and no matter what number he played or who he played, he won.”

Sophomore Ziggy Whitman—who lost an epic, five-game match to Trinity No. 4 and 2001 semifinalist Nick Kyme on Saturday—and Barry, a finalist in the (second) Malloy bracket last year, also should not be overlooked.

Overall, the Crimson men know what to expect throughout the tournament.

“We’ve seen everyone play in the regular season, so it’s not as if anyone out there has any big surprises or secrets,” Bullock said. “There are so many outstanding players in the draw that it’s going to be whoever stays the toughest for the whole tournament that will come out on top.”

Women

On the women’s side, the graduation of three-time defending champion Julia Beaver of Princeton has left the title up for grabs.

Trinity sophomore and last year’s runner-up Amina Helal didn’t lose all season, but Leong was nearly as good.

Hall, though, should also be confident after taking a game from Helal for the first time at the Howe Cup.

“Obviously, Amina’s favored, but I think the playing field is much more leveled since Julia graduated,” Hall said.

Elias, a quarterfinalist last year, also refuses to be intimidated.

“Definitely, Amina’s the one to beat, but I think she has a lot to prove, too,” Elias said.

Penn junior Runa Reta, who lost to Beaver in last year’s semifinals, and 2001 quarterfinalist Olga Puigdemont-Sola of Cornell also could be dangerous.

Crimson freshman Lindsey Wilkins will be looking to put forth a strong showing in her first ISA Championships, while Wing is an experienced competitor closing out her collegiate career.

“I don’t feel like there’s anyone out there who I shouldn’t be on court with,” Wing said. “I like [facing] players who are supposed to beat me; it takes all the pressure off.”

Wing’s goal is to be named a First-Team All-American, while junior Ella Witcher hopes to make the second team. Co-captain Colby Hall, a Consolation II finalist last year, also has the ability to scare some of the tournament’s higher seeds.

The Crimson can certainly do some damage in both draws, and with a good showing this weekend, they might be able to lessen the pain of those measly second- and third-place team finishes.