Squash teams hammer Cornell to begin Ivy seasons with wins

The plan for the day didn't involve any Xs, Os, charts, maps or war room strategies for recounts. The goal for the men's and women's squash teams was really rather simple.

"Just to win, really," sophomore No. 1 Will Evans said. "Just to be dominant and start the season off on the right foot."

The men's and women's teams won and won big Sunday at Jadwin Gym as they each opened their Ivy League seasons against visiting Cornell. The women (1-0 overall, 1-0 Ivy League) defeated the Big Red, 8-1, and the men (2-0, 1-0) dispatched their Ivy League foe, 9-0. The men's team also finished off Navy, 8-1, earlier in the day.

After an Ivy League scrimmage tournament the weekend before, the women's team came out fully prepared for its first regular-season game.

"Our goal going out there was to give it 100 percent and go out there with all we had," senior co-captain and No. 2 Meredith Quick said. "I think there was a real difference from the weekend before at the Ivy Scrimmage. We went out there [against Cornell] with a lot more intensity."

Motivated

The Tigers had plenty of motivation going into the match. Cornell nearly pulled off an upset the day before at Penn with a close 5-4 loss. The narrow margin of victory over Princeton's rival added extra meaning to the match against the Big Red.

"Cornell had a really close match with [Penn] and so we were pretty psyched up," Quick said.

The senior got things started for the Tigers en route to the Princeton rout. Quick sent Cornell's No. 2, Kellen Hecksher, chasing the ball all over the court. The Big Red player tired quickly, which caused her to make too many errors during the course of three games, all of which Quick took — 9-2, 9-6, 9-0.

At No. 4, freshman Annie Rein-Weston demonstrated plenty of experience for a first-year player, anticipating many of her opponents' shots and running to where the ball would be before Big Red opponent Kate Lytle finished her swing. Rein-Weston, sophomore No. 6 Jen Shingleton and senior No. 8 Lauren Martin all recorded 3-0 match wins, giving the Tigers the early 4-0 advantage over Cornell.

The men's team had similar success in its match against the Big Red. Sophomore No. 2 David Yik got the first win of the day for the men's team. After going neck and neck with Cornell's Tim Nagel for the first 10 points, Yik finally pulled away to score the final five points and win the first game, 15-10. It was the only game he would have to play — Nagel resigned due to injury, conceding the match to Yik.

Junior No. 4 Peter Kelly frustrated his opponent early and often, hitting the corners with a hard overhead shot in his 3-0 victory. Freshman No. 6 Will Osnato and senior captain and No. 8 Harrison Gabel each finished off their Cornell opponents, 3-0 and 3-1, respectively.

As the women prepared to begin their second round of odd-numbered matches, several members of the men's Cornell team and other well-wishers yelled out half-hearted words of encouragement to Big Red No. 1 Andrea McNeely, as one member of the men's team wondered aloud if she had a chance against Princeton's phenomenal No. 1.

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Senior Julia Beaver picked up where she left off last season, dominating all aspects of the game in her swift 3-0 victory.

Freshman No. 3 Akanksha Hazari used speed and a fast swing to run circles around Cornell's Melinda Lee to win, 3-0, and junior No. 5 Courtenay Green battled down to the wire in five games for her 3-2 win.

Sophomore No. 7 Helen Smith fought hard through five games, but eventually succumbed, 3-2, and freshman No. 9 Elizabeth Johnson won 3-0 to complete the Tigers' dominating 8-1 victory.

Evans demonstrated a lot of hustle at the top spot for the men's squad, making amazing reaches for shots hit softly off the front wall and ones that he had to chase down at the back wall.

"Our fitness levels right now have been very good, since we've been training our guts out," Evans said.

Sophomore No. 3 Eric Pearson, sophomore No. 5 Dan Rutherford, senior co-captain and No. 7 Marshall Sebring and senior No. 9 Randolph McEvoy all got 3-0 sweeps to complete the Tiger domination.