No. 3 Men's Squash Falls to No. 1 Trinity

Needing a spark to keep their season going after two consecutive losses against top-10 opponents, Harvard men’s squash looked to end No. 1 ranked Trinity College’s perfect 13-0 start to the season on Thursday in Hartford, Conn.

In what would be an unfruitful day for the squad at the George A. Kellner Squash Center, the No. 3 Crimson (2-4, 2-1 Ivy) came up short against Bantams (14-0, 2-0 NESCAC). Harvard’s 7-2 loss to Trinity, helped extend the sport’s reigning national champions’ winning streak to 24 matches in a row.

“It’s always tough playing [Trinity] at home because they have really big crowds and they’ve got different paddle courts, but I think we did a pretty good job,” sophomore Madhav Dhingra said. “They’ve been beating a lot of teams pretty badly and I thought we gave them a run for their money.”

Unexpectedly, the highlight of the day was a battle between family members at position nine as sophomore Mandela Patrick took on his younger brother Nku Patrick, a freshman for the Bantams. The younger Patrick proved to be victorious as he swept the match —11-7, 11-5, 11-8 — to continue his perfect record in match play in his rookie campaign. As soon as the contest commenced, the two shared an embrace.

At the No. 3 slot, junior co-captain Brian Koh could not get past his poor play in the early portions of individual games in a contested 3-0 loss to Trinity senior Juan Vargas. After clawing back to a 14-12 result in the first even though he let his opponent storm out to a 9-3 lead, Koh seemed poised to turn the corner. But the Singapore native continued to make unforced errors on drops and lobs early in the second and was unable make any real challenge in the third by allowing Vargas to control the T throughout the rest of the match.

Sophomore Bradley Smith also could not get going in his own 3-0 loss against Bantam freshman Michael Craig. In contrast to Craig’s methodical, strategic use of deceptive crosses and tight rails, Smith’s aggressive, yet sluggish style led to him getting behind in points and hitting quite a few tins.

Two other members of the Crimson squad, Dhingra, and junior Devin McLaughlin, were also defeated, 3-0, in their individual matchups. The loss was McLaughlin’s first of the season.

Earlier in the session, Harvard’s first of two triumphs came from junior Dylan Murray, who handled Trinity junior Affeeq Ishmail relatively easily in a 3-0 win.

“Dylan has a really strong basic foundation in terms of his core athletic ability,” Dhingra said. “He played the ball really well to the back today, kept it tight, didn’t give his opponent much, so it’s good to see him get back in form.”

Right after Murray’s match finished, in what seems to be a common feat for the sophomore, Seif Eleinen again proved to be victorious in a five game match at the No. 8 slot to improve to a 5-0 record on the season. After falling behind, 2-1, to Trinity freshman Tor Christoffersen, Eleinen claimed the final two games —11-8, 11-7— to win his second such five gamer this year.

With Harvard already in a 4-1 hole after the early wave of matches, the win was much needed to keep any hope of victory alive. But that hope was not long lived, as Dhingra’s loss shortly after sealed the victory for the Bantams.

In the final two matches of the contest, sophomore David Ryan and freshman Alexi Gosset were unable to claim victory as they both fell, 3-1, at the first and seventh positions, respectively.

Although its 7-2 loss to the Bantams does not put the Crimson in a desirable position, the squad does not see that the result has too much of a bearing on the future.

“Individually, when it comes to nationals when we play them again, I think we can take them down,” Ryan said. “There was a lot of matches that were down to the wire where we might’ve lost on fitness here and there, but I think overall we can take them next time through.”

—Staff Writer Jackson M. Reynolds can be reached at jackson.reynolds@thecrimson.com