What was at first anticipated as a rebuilding year for the men's squash team after graduating four All-Americans has turned into a surprisingly successful season for the No. 4 Tigers. Yet Princeton will have one more opportunity to catapult itself into the top three — the best the Tigers hope to do — when the season culminates this weekend with the College Squash Association National Team Championship tournament in New Haven, Conn.
'A project'
"This season has certainly been a project because we have so many freshmen in our lineup," head coach Bob Callahan said. "Our goal is to play the best we can, and, with hope, reach the top three."
The tournament, which features the top 40 teams in the nation, will include Trinity, Yale and Harvard, Princeton's traditional squash rivals, all of whom defeated the Tigers during the regular season.
The 40 teams will be broken into five brackets, organized in groups of eight by seed: 1-8, 9-16, 17-24, 25-32, 33-40. Under this system, Princeton will face No.5 Dartmouth for its first match of the tournament, which will take place on Friday at 3 p.m.
Though the Tigers beat the Big Green earlier this year, 9-0, there were a few close matches, and Dartmouth could still pose a threat to Princeton.
Hope for semis
"It will be a challenge," Callahan said. "But we're confident that if we play up to our potential we will move on to the next round of play."
That next round would be the semifinals, held on Saturday. If the Tigers reach this round, they will most likely face No. 1 Trinity, which dealt Princeton its most recent loss this season. The Bantams, who claim many of the best college squash players from around the world, have an incredibly strong program against which the Tigers are simply looking to play well.
"It would be quite an historical upset if we beat Trinity this season," Callahan said.
If the Tigers do emerge victorious against Trinity, they will most likely go on to play the winner of the Harvard-Yale match in the finals Sunday.
If they lose to Trinity, they will vie with the loser of the same match for the No. 3 final season ranking.
Though Yale and Harvard both beat Princeton earlier this season, 6-3 and 7-2, respectively, several matches were very close, and the Tigers are optimistic about a possible upset against either opponent.
"This weekend is the biggest weekend for our team. We're going into the tournament as the fourth seed, so hopefully we'll pull of an upset or two," sophomore Yasser El Halaby, the No. 1 player in Princeton's lineup and in the nation, said. "It's our last event of the season as a team, and we're hoping for the best."
This is the last team competition of the season, and the Tigers are looking to go out on top.
However, with the individual championships looming in the near distance, this weekend will not be the last we hear of Princeton squash this year.
El Halaby, the defending individual national champion, will be heading to St. Lawrence in two weeks, along with five or six of his teammates, as part of a field of 64 individual players in the country in the individual championship tournament. The players are divided into two brackets: 1-32 and 33-64.
Grueling challenge
The women's team will, after their impressive season and No. 3 finish in the Howe Cup last weekend, also be sending several players to the individual championship tournament.
With the possibility of playing five or six matches against the most talented opponents in the country in one weekend, the challenge is a grueling one.
The tournament will not only decide the No. 1 player in the nation, but it will also determine firstand second-team All-Americans.
Both the men's and women's teams are optimistic about their chances in the individual championships and are looking forward to continued success for the Tiger program.
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