U. of Cape Town squash tour comes through Princeton

Imagine: 15 college students, going across the Northeastern United States, sans adult supervision, traveling — and sometimes sleeping — in two Winnebagos. Road trip? Not quite.

It's the University of Cape Town's squash team, en route to 12 Northeast universities on its four-week competitive summer tour. And last night the bus stopped in Princeton.

"This event was a great chance to use squash as a medium to meet folks from around the world," men's head coach Bob Callahan '77 said.

UCT competed against both the men's and women's Princeton teams last night. Women's squash came away with a 4-1 victory. Princeton won at the No. 1, 2, 3 and 4 spots — played by seniors Julia Beaver and Meredeth Quick and freshmen Akanksha Hazari and Annie Rein-Weston — by 3-0 margins.

The men's team swept the Ikeys, 9-0, dropping a combined total of only seven games. Seniors Harrison Gabel and Randolph McEvoy, junior Peter Kelly, sophomore Danny Rutherford and freshman Jon Ross all won with perfect scores.

"I'm proud of our team for really coming away with a solid victory," senior Marshall Sebring said. "These past few matches haven't been such good competition as this team was. I think a lot of the matches were closer than they might look."

Women's head coach Gail Ramsey was optimistic after yesterday's match.

"We had a tough loss to Brown," women's head coach Gail Ramsey said. "We were missing a lot of players and I think if we played them straight up we could beat them. We can still win the league if we finish off perfect from here on in."

Despite the tough loss last night, UCT squash is serious business. The men's and women's teams finished No. 3 and No. 5, respectively, last year in South Africa.

And the Ikeys did this despite only practicing three to four times a week, even when in season. Both teams are also traveling without a coach present — because neither team has one. Despite squash's popularity, there's no funding for coaches.

"They only have five women who traveled with them," Ramsey said. "So we accommodated them. We have an elaborate intercollegiate system, and to compete against [teams that do this kind of training], they have to be good. Here we're just in sports overdrive."

But the Ikeys still persist with their competitive attitude.

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"We're all very serious about our squash," UCT's Simon Ingeracent said.

Ingeracent's match at No. 1 against sophomore David Yik was the grand finale of the international competition. With the game score split at 2-2, Ingeracent began to come back from a 14-9 deficit, playing impressively despite an eventual 15-12 loss.

But even the top player can't be serious all the time.

"It's cool being here," Ingeracent said. "America is the land of milk and honey. And chicks dig our accents."

The sole win for UCT came at the No. 5 spot for the women's team, courtesy of Gugu Moyo.

"I feel like we're playing well," Moyo said. "But this has been long and tiring. It's getting harder."

After taking a week to sightsee in New York City, the UCT squash teams have been traveling to new universities and competing almost every day. The teams have played eight matches in the last 10 days in five different states.

The team has even learned to take on the appropriate loyalties for each place they stay in.

"We didn't like Harvard so much," UCT's Keith Grainger said. "Their players were not that forthcoming."

"Princeton is very impressive," Ingeracent added. "There's so many squash courts. It's unbelievable."

It remains to be seen whether the UCT players will maintain these same American college loyalties tomorrow. The sojourn continues then, when Cape Town heads to the University of Pennsylvania.