Harvard Earns Home-Series Split

The Harvard men’s squash team bounced back from its first loss of the season last weekend at Trinity by defeating Penn, 6-3, at the Murr Center on Saturday, but soon ran out of gas on Sunday against Princeton.

A number of team illnesses also conspired against the Crimson in a closely contested 5-4 loss.

Junior Garnett Booth, who did not play on Saturday, was just one of the Crimson players suffering from flu-like symptoms.

He failed to pull off a crucial win against Vincent Yu of Princeton even after taking a commanding lead in the fifth and deciding game.

Junior Todd Ostrow also played ill, and although he won his match on Saturday against Penn, he lost in three games to Tom McKay.

“We didn’t beat ourselves—we got beaten, and that’s the difference,” coach Satinder Bajwa said of Sunday’s loss. “That’s what you want, these guys stepping up. It was about getting the team to start playing and doing the best it can.”

Harvard (5-2, 4-1 Ivy) will head to the CSA Nationals next weekend at Princeton.

PRINCETON 5, HARVARD 4

After early losses for the Crimson at the No. 6, 7, 8 and 9 positions, Princeton (6-2, 3-1) grabbed a dominating lead going into the match between Booth and Yu at the No. 5 position. Booth took the first game, 9-6, but Yu stormed back and claimed the next two games, 9-5, and 9-3.

Things began to look up for Harvard when Booth defeated Yu, 9-5, in the fourth game and quickly built a 7-0 lead in the fifth game.

A visibly ill Booth, however, began to make a number of unforced errors, and watched Yu take nine straight points to clinch the game and the match, 9-7. That gave Princeton a 5-1 lead to secure its victory over the Crimson.

Garnett “gave everything he had,” said junior Ilan Oren, who won his match by a 3-0 score at No. 3. “And he almost had it, but fell short.”

Oren’s early win was the only victory for Harvard among the early matches, where the Tigers ultimately displayed their dominance.

Sophomore Chessin Gertler, freshman Verdi DiSesa, junior Mihir Sheth and Ostrow all lost in three to Princeton players in the No. 6, 7, 8, and 9 matches, respectively.

“Ever since the loss to Trinity, I just focused on today’s match,” Oren said. “And I didn’t want to let myself down, or let the team down. I was ready, and it wasn’t too hard, just because I was so focused and so determined.”

As impressive as the Tigers were in the bottom four matches, Harvard fought valiantly in the top four matches, even when a Crimson victory was no longer possible.

At No. 2, captain Will Broadbent had an exciting match that went the distance against Maurice Sanchez.

Broadbent took the first two games from Sanchez with scores of 9-5 and 9-0, but Sanchez would not go quietly and took the next two games, 10-8 and 9-6.

In the end, Broadbent was able to win the last game, 9-6.

“Will’s match was amazing,” Oren said. “He was up two-love, and then Sanchez took it to the fifth. Will was in very bad shape, but he just dug deep, and somehow managed to pull it through in the fifth. I still don’t know how he managed to do it.”

Junior Jason De Lierre, playing in the No. 4 position, fell behind by two games early before storming back with games of 9-1 and 9-0 against Princeton’s Hesham El Halaby.

In the fifth game, De Lierre defeated El Halaby, 10-8.

Junior Siddharth Suchde, playing at No. 1, posted a dominating 9-1, 9-0, 9-0 victory.

“The top guys are finally playing to their level,” Bajwa said. “It took us a little time because of exams, and we had a week where we were not match-tough. But the middle order is also beginning to play well now, and Garnett’s match was just unfortunate. Everybody is starting to believe in themselves, and start fighting out there. And that is the spirit, and if we go in with that spirit next weekend for [the CSA Nationals], anything can happen.”

HARVARD 6, PENN 3

Harvard defeated the Quakers (6-4, 2-2) by a score of 6-3 at the Murr Center on Saturday, with five players winning their matches in three games.

At No. 4, De Lierre had the most lopsided victory of all as he swept his opponent with scores of 9-1, 9-3, 9-1.

DiSesa managed a close victory at No. 6 against Graham Bassett with a 3-1 win with scores of 9-2, 7-9, 9-4, 10-8.

In the fourth and last game, the scores were tied at 7-7 and 8-8 before DiSesa pulled off the final two points to clinch the match.

Despite never being seriously challenged for the victory, several Crimson players still let chances to win their individual matches slip away.

In the longest match of the day at No. 7, John Kimmelrich of Penn was able to defeat Sheth in five games, even though Sheth once led by 8-7 in the fifth game. He would lose the final, 10-8.

At No. 5, Gertler missed a chance to force a fifth game against Andrew Zimmerman when he let an 8-5 lead in the fourth game slip away.

He gave up five straight points, losing the game, 10-8, and the match, 3-1.

Suchde defeated Gilly Lane in three games at No. 1 and Ilan Oren swept Benjamin Ende at No. 3. Ostrow defeated William Simonton in three, while senior Ryan Abraham lost in four games to Nick Malinowski.

“Considering that we had a sickness and an injury, number five Garnett Booth is very sick with a fever, and Niko Hardy, who hurt his hand last Saturday and had the bad news that he has to be in a cast for two weeks...the people who came on really stepped up,” Bajwa said. “But all I told them is that matches are not won by one but by all. They all got to play the best they can ever hope for, and cannot rely on anyone else. That is the message.”

“This is a game of attrition,” the coach added. “If your opponent takes the game from you, let him, but don’t give it away. The bottom line is, you have to fight for your life out there. Squash is a non-contact boxing match. And when you make an unforced error, you’re going to feel like you’re hit with a punch.”

“We’ve done all the work,” said Broadbent, who won in three games against Lee Rosen of Penn at No. 2. “It’s about being able to compete on game day. It’s about having a certain level of intensity on the court, and not letting any of the games slip away like some of them did today.”

—Staff writer Tony D. Qian can be reached at tonyqian@fas.harvard.edu.