The men's and women's squash teams knew that Yale would be their toughest test of the young season. The Elis were ranked No. 2 nationally in the men's division and No. 1 for the ladies. But the Tigers had reason to believe and plenty of hope.
On the men's side, Yale had not defeated the Tigers since 1994, though everyone knew this year's match-up favored the Bulldogs.
In a highly competitive and fiecely combative match, the Elis managed to hold off the Tigers, 6-3. Princeton got wins at No. 1, 6 and 9 in their lineup.
Yale jumped out to a quick lead with a slew of wins in the early batch of games. Sophomore Will Boothby came back from two games to zero to win his match, 3-2. Brendon Bascom also notched a win at No. 9 by a 3-2 margin.
Princeton's best performance came from its top-ranked star, the nation's No. 1 single's player, sophomore Yasser El-Hallaby. El-Hallaby took on Yale's No. 1 player, Julian Illingsworth. After some less-than-respectful comments by Illingsworth over the off-season, El-Hallaby came into the match with an agenda and a vendetta.
Illingsworth jumped out to a quick lead in the first game of the best-of-five series, but El-Hallaby soon put his foot down. He came back to take the first set and shut out Illingsworth 9-0 in the second. After an equally dominant third set, El-Hallaby left the court with a smashing 3-0 victory, but too little to save his team.
The women's team suffered a similar loss. The top-ranked Bulldogs jumped on the Lady Tigers early and did not let up. Princeton got its only win from freshman Anina Nolan at No. 9, losing to Yale, 8-1.
Earlier in the week, both the men's and women's teams took on Penn in what amounted to little more than practice for the weekend matches.
Both squads swept the Quakers in a solid, if predictable 9-0 massacre.
The men's and women's teams both travel to Dartmouth and Harvard this weekend for a two-game Ivy League set. Both will have to pick up the pieces from last weekend's disappointment.
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