Men's squash had two main goals for the fall: to win the Ivy League scrimmage and to take the Five-Man Team Championship.
No problem.
After claiming a hard-earned victory over Yale in the finals for the top scrimmage honors in November, the team focused all its energy into preparing for the Five-Mans. Their work ethic paid off as they celebrated the beginning of winter break with a huge win.
"This was the highlight of our fall schedule," head coach Bob Callahan said.
The Five-Man tournament is played in a different format than a typical squash match. While in normal collegiate competition nine players from each team play to determine the overall winner, here the victor is determined by who wins the best-of-five individual matches. Even more unusual is the makeup of some of the teams: some teams come from a certain school, while others are composed of squash buddies who got together to play. Any group of five men can enter.
The Five-Mans marked the official collegiate debut of Yasser el-Halaby, the freshman standout from Egypt. The Tigers were happy to see his eligibility cleared just in time for him to play in the No. 1 slot.
Princeton entered two teams in the tournament, one composed of seeds 1-5 and a B-team of seeds 6-10. Callahan was pleased with the B-team's performance — they defeated Dartmouth's A-team 4-1 and were competitive with Harvard's top team as well.
But the biggest story was the play of the Tigers' A-team, made up of el-Halaby, David Yik (No. 2), Will Evans (No. 3), Dan Rutherford (No. 4), and Eric Pearson (No. 5). They started the weekend against Trinity's B-team. Despite a later-than-anticipated arrival, Princeton fared well, claiming a 5-0 victory in the match.
The Tigers next faced a New York City team of players in their 20s and 30s. Youth won out and Princeton claimed a comfortable 4-1 victory.
Another New York City team awaited the Tigers next. This one featured at its No. 1 position Clive Leach, a formidable opponent — recently retired from professional squash, he was ranked among the top 30 players in the world. El-Halaby, however, defeated Leach in four games, proving his strength among world-class athletes.
The final match to determine the tournament champion was perhaps the most exciting. In a rematch of last year's final Five-Man game, Princeton faced Trinity's A-team, which was missing two players who were abroad for the semester.
The first match went to Trinity, 3-0 — Rutherford couldn't hold on against Reggie Schonborn. The second match looked to be another Tiger loss as well. Pearson's opponent forced a fifth and deciding game and surged ahead 8-2. Though just one more point would have given Trinity a 2-0 lead in the match count, Pearson did not give up. He won eight straight points to take the match.
"Eric's comeback really boosted the team's enthusiasm and confidence," Callahan said.
Inspired by their teammate's example, el-Halaby and Yik took the court against their opponents: Bernardo Samper, last year's individual collegiate champion, and Nickolas Kyme. El-Halaby did not seem intimidated. He took the first game before dropping the second, 9-7.
"I was a bit overconfident in the second game," el-Halaby admitted. "But I refocused and came back the next two games ready to play."
With 9-2 victories in the next two games, el-Halaby put Princeton ahead 2-1. Yik made easy work of Kyme, defeating him 3-0 to clinch the match for the Tigers.
"David played the best squash he's played in two years," said Callahan.
Although Evans played a "dead match" — Princeton had already assured its victory — he allowed his opponent no mercy. He won, 3-0.
The Tigers have now proven themselves as the team to beat this season. But they must focus on their next goal — the Ivy League championship.
"This win gives us the confidence to go into the next six or seven weeks," Callahan said.
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