In Ivy scrimmages, men’s squash rolls along to victory over Brown, Yale, and Princeton, and earns top spot in League’s preseaso

While its season may not open until Nov. 17 when the Harvard men’s squash team plays Brown at home, the Crimson established itself as the team to beat in the Ivy League this past weekend.

The position atop the League was a familiar one for a Harvard team that earned a share of the title last season. A year ago, Yale, Princeton, and the Crimson all had a share of the title.

At the Ivy scrimmages, Harvard upended Brown, the Bulldogs, and then the Tigers to win the preseason event and take the top ranking entering the season.

“Even though the results have no real, official meaning, they are very important for the teams to gauge where we stand right before the season kicks off,” said captain Ilan Oren in an email.

All seven of the teams in the competition are seeded in the top 11 in the College Squash Association’s preseason national rankings. Princeton was the top team entering the weekend with the No. 2 spot, and the Crimson and the Bulldogs followed up at No. 3 and No. 4, respectively.

In the first round of play, Harvard easily routed an overwhelmed Bears squad by a perfect final team score of 9-0.

In the semifinals, the Crimson had its toughest match of the day against Yale.

An injury to senior Jason De Lierre hindered the Harvard squad, which entered the final match of the contest knotted at 4 with the Bulldogs. Playing at No. 4, Garnett Booth propelled the Crimson into the final with a 3-1 victory.

Against the Tigers, Harvard ran away with the tournament title. Senior Siddharth Suchde led the way by rolling to a 3-0 win over Princeton’s Mauricio Sanchez at the No. 1 spot.

The team final score was 7-2.

“We won rather comfortably and I thought the performance was impressive,” Oren said.

The Crimson will not face either the Tigers or the Bulldogs—its top challengers in the Ivy League—in the regular season until the middle of February. The season starts a week from this Friday.

—GABRIEL M. VELEZ