M. Squash Flawless Against Ephs

After a disappointing loss to No. 1 Trinity on Saturday, it was back to business as usual for the No. 3 Harvard men’s squash team.

The Crimson (4-1, 3-0 Ivy) got a much-needed easy victory and shut out No. 10 Williams 9-0 on Tuesday evening in Williamstown, Mass.

In stark contrast to Saturday’s loss at Trinity, Harvard was never challenged by the inferior Ephs (14-6).

“It was pretty clean for the whole match,” co-captain Ziggy Whitman said. “We pretty much just beat them everywhere.”

The Crimson lost only two games the entire contest. At No. 8, freshman Garnett Booth dropped the first game to Ted Unger 10-9 before dispatching him easily in the next three, 9-0, 9-1 and 9-2.

The most competitive match of the evening took place at the No. 7 spot. Like Booth, freshman Mihir Sheth lost the first game to Charlie Giammattei. Sheth then battled back through a slightly pulled hamstring and squeaked out 9-7 victories in the second and third games. In the fourth game, Sheth took control of the match and closed out Giammattei easily with a 9-0 win.

“In the first game, I wasn’t focused and I was a bit stiff with a little pull in my hamstring,” Sheth said. “After that I got going in the second and third [games] but still wasn’t playing to my potential. He did a god job of taking advantage of my faults.”

At No. 1, sophomore intercollegiate No. 6 Will Broadbent disposed of Dan Bishop in straight games, 9-5, 9-2, 9-1.

The dominating performance for Harvard came at the perfect time. While beating up on the weaker Williams squad didn’t make up for the disappointing performance against the Bantams, it restored some of the team’s confidence.

“It was important because it gave us the opportunity to feel sharp,” Whitman said. “Losing to Trinity is a downer and this is a good opportunity to remind ourselves we’re good squash players. Whether [Williams] is a good team or a bad team, it was good to have this match this quick after Trinity.”

The Crimson played without freshman Siddharth Suchde who was resting a sore back. Suchde, who suffered a hamstring injury earlier in the season, has played in only two matches for Harvard thus far. He is expected to be ready for this weekend’s contests against No. 8 Penn and No. 4 Princeton.

Playing in front of his former coach from Israel—current Williams coach Zafrir Levy—freshman Ilan Oren took over Suchde’s position at No. 2 with little difficulty, defeating Andrew Pizzi in straight games.

Junior Asher Hochberg—who, along with Broadbent, recorded Harvard’s only two wins against the Bantams—missed the match for an interview.

—Staff writer David H. Stearns can be reached at stearns@fas.harvard.edu.