Top five players solid as men's squash dominates Western Ontario, Cornell

Facing teams that were No. 5 and No. 6 in the nation last year, most teams would be fazed and nervous. The men's squash team was neither last Saturday as it blew past Western Ontario, 7-2, and Cornell, 9-0, on the way to a 2-0 record to open the season.

"I was overall very pleased with our effort. We had a rough week in practice, but we got through it and played two good matches," head hoach Bob Callahan '77 said.

The Tigers began against Western Ontario, and for a while the match was tight. After the even shift, in which the No. 2, No. 4, No. 6, and No. 8 players compete, the Tigers were up, 3-1.

Early in the odd shift, Ontario made a comeback. The Mustangs were leading or tied in three of the matches.

However, it was only a matter of time before the Tigers took control.

Junior captain David Yik rallied from a 1-0 deficit in his match to win a tight second game. After evening the score, he was able to take control and win the next two games easily.

Princeton was even not playing at full strength during the match, as many of the players were banged up from the Ivy Scrimmage the weekend before.

Freshman Dent Wilkins sat out the morning match against the Bulldogs, and sophomore Aaron Zimmerman was weakened by injury and dropped his match.

"The [Ivy] Scrimmage has much too many matches in too short a time," Callahan said. "It was a difficult week in practice, with us nursing some injuries."

The Tigers seemed to have found a way to work around their injuries by the time they faced Cornell that evening. Despite Cornell's victory against Western Ontario 5-4 the night before, Princeton knew it had to concentrate against its Ivy foe.

All nine players for the Tigers came out firing and Cornell was helpless in trying to stop them. Eight won their matches without dropping a game. Nate Beck, the freshman starting in the number nine spot due to Zimmerman's injury, was the only player to drop a game.

Callahan and the rest of the team were very pleased with their performance in Ithaca. The Tigers will now focus on getting back on a regular practice schedule and working on various aspects of their games.

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"Our focus now will be on individual skills — we will have more personalized practices," Callahan said. "We also want to work on our general fitness. Fitness is a key for us."

Callahan was pleased that a number of players were able to step up and play well, especially in the No. 6-9 spots.

Sophomore Will Osnato, who had been struggling a bit with his game, found his rhythm against Cornell and easily won his match at No. 7.

Freshman Rob Sieverd continued his excellent play from the No. 8 position. He played well at the Ivy Scrimmage and easily won his two matches this weekend.

Lastly, the Tigers got what they expected from their top five spots. Yik, junior Dan Rutherford, junior Will Evans, senior co-captain Peter Kelly, and junior Eric Pierson each won both of their matches.

The Tigers will now focus their attention on the 5-Man Team Championship in three weeks. This tournament features the best players from around the country and will give the Tigers a good indication of where they stand nationally.