Men's Squash Steamrolls No. 3 Columbia, No. 11 Cornell

They’re on top of the world, well, at least the college squash world. Sitting atop the Dunlop Men’s College Squash Team Rankings for the first time since December 7, 2014 after its win over then-No. 1 Rochester last weekend, the Harvard men’s squash team continued to bowl over the competition.

Still undefeated on the season, the Crimson (9-0, 5-0 Ivy League) solidified its position at the top with dominating victories over No. 3 Columbia (9-2, 4-1) and No. 11 Cornell (6-8, 1-4) in its first home stand of the year. The Lions, led by two-time All-American and 2015-2016 Ivy League player of the year Osama Khalifa, did not live up to the reputation they had built up earlier in the season at the Murr Center on Saturday.

“I think yesterday against Columbia there were some tough matches, but we came out on top for the most part,” freshman Sean Hughes said. “It’s been a good past few weekends for us. Finally playing some of the top teams and coming out on top.”

This time around, Harvard did not just come out on top. It showed that it was a force to be reckoned with, as its wins over Columbia and Cornell, 8-1 and 9-0, respectively, were in no way, shape, or form closer than the final results indicate.

HARVARD, 9, CORNELL, 0

The match on Sunday against the Big Red went relatively routinely, as Harvard collected simple 3-0 victories at the top eight positions. The ninth match took a mere four games.

With Smith and senior Dylan Murray sitting out the match, both sophomore Alexi Gosset and junior Mandela Patrick picked up starts at the eighth and ninth positions, respectively. Gosset’s match went by quickly, while Patrick’s was more contested. He fought through long, draining points and slightly erratic refereeing to secure the win, 11-4, 10-12, 11-7, 11-4.

With another important match against No. 2 Trinity on the horizon, the strength up and down the Crimson ladder must continue to prove itself.

“This team is going to compare, maybe, to some of the strongest teams that Harvard’s had in recent history, especially with the one where we won the nationals a few years ago,” Way said. “The fact of the matter is we’re very strong like a few years ago, but so are many other teams, but the important now is just to stay grounded. We have to make sure we stay humble, stay quiet, and don’t get ahead of ourselves.”

HARVARD, 8, COLUMBIA, 1

“The score line tells it all,” seventh-year coach Mike Way said. “I think we and Columbia were surprised at the men’s result yesterday. Very often score lines don’t reflect what actually happened, but I think yesterday’s was fairly accurate. Obviously, as head coach, I’m delighted.”

Nowhere was this dominance more present than at the often-challenging No. 1 position. Freshman Saadeldin Abouaish, blitzed one of the most talented players in the nation in Khalifa, right out of the gate en route to an 11-9, 11-5, 11-1 win. Abouaish continued to gain confidence as the match went on, as the rookie moved closer to handing Khalifa the second regular season loss of his college career. By the homestretch of the third set, he was clearly dictating the play.

“That could’ve been a breakthrough match for him,” Way said. “First of all, Osama is a very strong player and Saad is only just coming out of juniors. And second of all, in that culture, Egyptian culture, you see it very often where a younger athlete should always be respectful, but is so respectful, that in fact there’s a barrier there to stop him from playing his hardest.”

Having played quite possibly one of the best individual matches of his life, the Cairo native displayed the brilliance that the Crimson has the privilege of receiving for the next three-plus seasons. The match displayed the first-year’s composure, as he didn’t let the moment get away from him.

“He had two barriers to get through yesterday,” Way said. “One was tactical and one was humility, playing this elder statesmen, if you will. So I said to him ‘the test that you have today has to do with these two things and if you come through it, it will be Saad the man versus Saad the junior boy.’ And I think very much it was a mature performance that we saw from him yesterday.”

Matches were tighter at other positions, but Harvard continued to come out on top with decisive victories. Junior Madahav Dhingra played a contested first game, but proved dominant once he figured out his opponent, winning 12-10, 11-5, 11-4. Freshman Timmy Brownell, co-captain Bryan Koh, and co-captain Devin McLaughlin produced the other three-game victories for the Crimson.

Playing right next to each other on courts four and five, Hughes and senior Dylan Murray collected their own victories, 3-1. Junior David Ryan also prevailed in four, besting Lions sophomore Adham Madi in his customary methodical style, 8-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-3. After a slow start to the first game set him back early in the match, Ryan gradually brought himself back into the game with consistent rails and drops. After placing his stamp on the third game with a skillful behind the back volley at the front of the court, Ryan pull ahead for good.

The lone loss on the day came from junior Bradley Smith at the second position. The 3-0 defeat was much closer than it seemed, as a back-and-forth 16-14 second set came to define the contest between the two adversaries.

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