Harvard Squash Picks Up Pair of Losses

Though the No. 5 Harvard men’s squash team (3-2, 2-1 Ivy) entered its weekend contests on a three-game undefeated streak, the Crimson suffered its first two losses of the season on the road against sixth-ranked Cornell (3-1, 2-1) and third-ranked Rochester (5-0, 3-0 Liberty League).

“Losing to Cornell was a really bad loss for us,” captain Reed Endresen said. “I think we are a much better team than them. It’s a tough one to swallow, but we rebounded [against Rochester].”

ROCHESTER 9, HARVARD 0

Just over 24 hours after a loss against the Big Red, Harvard attempted to rebound against its second opponent of the weekend, the Yellowjackets.

Unfortunately for the Crimson, Rochester remains undefeated on the season after handing Harvard its second loss, 9-0.

“[Yesterday’s] match was a very tough match,” Harvard coach Mike Way said. “I feel the score line does not do credit to how well the team played.”

“They fought much more than [on Saturday], so I was very proud of every last one of them,” he continued. “There were some very tight matches that went right down to the wire.”

Sophomore Zeke Scherl nearly defeated the Yellowjackets’ Juan Pablo Gaviria after battling for five games.

“He fought like a tiger,” Way said. “He had match ball in the fourth game to win the match, and it didn’t come to pass.”

Another outstanding performance for the Crimson came from freshman Nigel Koh, who also took his opponent, Rochester senior Will Newnham, to a fifth game in an exciting match.

“Nigel was up against a very difficult opponent,” Way said. “He had to maintain his calm, and I think he did a fantastic job.”

Although the Yellowjackets won all nine matchups, Harvard won 10 games against Rochester, with six matchups going to at least four games.

“I was very proud of the team,” Way said. “They gave it all they had, and I thought it was a terrific bounce back, even though the score was 9-0.”

“Rochester is a pretty talented team,” captain Reed Endresen continued. “We played them with a lot of heart, a lot of passion.”

CORNELL 7, HARVARD 2

A slight favorite against Cornell, Harvard came into Saturday’s matchup knowing it would face a tough opponent in its first road contest of the year.

Unfortunately for the Crimson, the Big Red took an early lead over Harvard, winning the first three matches of the day at the No. 3, No. 6, and No. 9 spots, respectively, on the way to a 7-2 victory over the Crimson.

“The men fell a little bit flat against Cornell,” Way said. “The Cornell men’s team is very strong, and they have a good shot at both titles—the Ivy League title and the national title. We were a little flat coming out of the gate.”

Endresen earned one of Harvard’s two wins against the Big Red, defeating Cornell junior David Hilton in three games at the No. 5 spot.

The Crimson’s other victory came in the No. 4 matchup, as Koh took sophomore Arjun Gupta in five games.

Despite the score of the match, individual contests were closer than they appeared, as Harvard won a total of 11 games on the day.

Scherl narrowly lost his five-game match against Cornell sophomore Rishi Jalan, despite winning the first two games.

“They felt very down in the dumps [Saturday],” Way said. “[Yesterday] they had to redeem themselves.”

Though it was the Crimson’s first loss of the season, the match against the Big Red does not remove Harvard from Ivy League title contention.

“We can still win [the title] if we win out because Cornell lost to Princeton,” Endresen said. “So we’re still in the race, still in the hunt.”

Though the weekend results were disappointing for the Crimson, Harvard remains optimistic about the rest of the season.

“We were confident that we could beat [both Rochester and Cornell],” senior Richard Hill said. “But they showed they were the better teams this weekend.”

“We’re going back to the drawing board and talking with the coaches,” Hill continued. “A lot of really important matches aren’t until February. It’s only the first half of the season.”

—Staff writer Catherine E. Coppinger can be reached at ccoppinger@college.harvard.edu.