Men's squash struggles against top-ranked foes

The Princeton men’s squash team traveled this past weekend to face off against second-ranked Penn and top-ranked Trinity. The young team struggled, falling 8-1 to Penn on Saturday and 9-0 to Trinity on Sunday.

The 11th ranked men’s team (2-8) entered Saturday’s match looking to improve upon its 0-2 Ivy League record but fell short against a very strong Penn squad. Players showed some promise early on in the contest as five out of nine matches opened with the first two games split. Freshmen William Oon and Clark Doyle, junior Vivek Dinodia and senior Michael LeBlanc all fared well at the beginning of their matches, grabbing a game early on, but failed to find more success against their opponents. Oon showed great resolve after dropping a thriller first frame 15-13, rallying back to win the second 11-7, before falling in four.

The lone win from the Princeton side came from the stellar performance of sophomore Abhimanyu Shah. In front of a raucous Penn crowd, Shah fought out an impressive victory against Penn’s Max Reed, triumphing 12-10 in the fifth game.

Following the Penn loss, the Princeton team traveled to Hartford, Conn. to face the no.1-ranked Trinity Bantams. The team knew they had a tall test in front of them, but battled hard. Due to Doyle’s injury, freshman Spencer Anton moved up to the number one spot and won his first game but could not find any more success as Trinity’s Rick Penders eventually wore Anton out. The closest match was a five-game contest between senior Sam Ezratty and Tor Christoffersen. Ezratty won an exciting opener 14-12 and kept battling hard even after going 2-1 down in games, grabbing the fourth by a score of 11-6. However, the Trinity freshman took a commanding early lead in the deciding fifth game, and prevailed.

With four out of nine freshmen in the starting lineup, the Princeton team certainly finds itself in the midst of a rebuilding year. Going into their most challenging weekends of the season, the team aimed to compete hard and keep building on its games. “The Trinity and Penn programs are at different places than ours. We knew we could push Penn, but Trinity might have one of the best teams in history, so we were just trying to see where we were at in terms of level and use the experience as a building block,” Doyle commented.

The coaching staff has kept the morale of the team high by having the team reflect and find a word to describe each practice. In addition, there has been an increased emphasis on mental toughness, as players have been encouraged to visualize their entire day leading up to a match, from waking up to stepping onto the court.

The men’s team looks to improve this upcoming weekend, facing no. 4 Yale on Saturday and no. 16 Brown on Sunday. Anton expects Yale to provide a tough test but anticipates a strong performance by the Tigers against the lower ranked Brown squad. Both matches will be played at 12 p.m. at the Jadwin Gymnasium Squash Courts.