Men's squash hopes to repeat as Ivy champions

The men's squash team did something last season it hadn't done in 17 years: It won the Ivy League championship.

The Tigers ended Harvard's 10-year stranglehold on the crown, defeating the Crimson in regular season play, 5-4, to get back to the top of the league.

Now, Princeton returns to try to repeat as Ivy League champs with almost all of its top nine back, except for one key player.

"We're in a post-Peter Yik era," head coach Bob Callahan '77 said.

The Tigers lost to graduation one of the most successful players in the squash program's history, Peter Yik '00. Yik played at the Tigers' top spot for most of his junior season and all of his senior year, losing only one match in regular-season play. Yik was almost a sure bet for the Tigers to beat any opposing team's top player. The two-time Ivy League Player of the Year and two-time individual national champion will be difficult to replace.

"As much as it's difficult to lose a fellow of Peter's skill and leadership," Callahan said, "it's quite comforting to have a super sophomore class."

Last season, Princeton brought in perhaps the Tigers' best recruiting class ever. Four rookies made an immediate impact on the squash program, filling in much of the upper half of the nine-man team.

Now with a year of collegiate play under their belts, sophomores David Yik, Will Evans, Eric Pearson and Dan Rutherford are expected to continue their success from last season in Princeton's drive to repeat atop the Ivy League.

David Yik will make a smooth transition to the No. 1 spot recently vacated by his brother. Evans will start at No. 2, Pearson at No. 4 and Rutherford, still not up to 100 percent after an ankle injury last December, will play at No. 5.

The Tigers are returning one junior, Peter Kelly at No. 3. Kelly earned Ivy League Rookie of the Year honors his freshman year and has moved up several spots since then. Princeton's two senior captains, Marshall Sebring and Harrison Gabel, will fill the No. 7 and No. 8 spots. Senior Randolph McEvoy will play at No. 9.

"We're returning the nucleus of our team," Sebring said.

New talent

For now, the Tigers will see the addition of one freshman to their top nine, No. 6 Will Osnato. Another rookie, Aaron Zimmerman, will be back from an injury in January and is also expected to make an impact for the Tigers.

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Princeton has been very aggressive this year in its preseason training, as the Tigers cannot afford to have any players fall to injury later in the season.

"This year we decided to take a new approach for our training, because last year we ran into problems with fitness," Sebring said. "We've spent less time on the court and more doing conditioning and in the weight room. And we've definitely seen results."

The Tigers traveled to Yale on Nov. 4 for the Ivy Scrimmage. Princeton played six matches over two days, and thanks to its rigorous conditioning and training in the preseason, no one came up injured.

"Maybe a year ago, guys would have been pulling up injured," Sebring said. "But instead we pushed through and came up with some good results."

Princeton dispatched Penn first, 9-0, in its opening game Friday. Then the Tigers faced Yale and won, 6-3. Harvard gave the Tigers problems, as only Princeton's top three were able to come away with wins in the 6-3 loss.

The Crimson and Elis will once again be the teams to beat for the Tigers this season as they try to repeat as Ivy League champs. Princeton's season begins this Sunday when it faces Navy at 9:30 a.m. and Cornell at 2:30 p.m.