Trinity squashes upset bids

Tough losses to Trinity last Saturday marked the end of a disappointing regular season for the men's and women's squash teams. The No. 4 Tiger women (9-3 overall) nearly upset the No. 3 Bantams on their home court in Hartford, Conn., pushing Trinity (8-2) to a deciding match before ultimately falling, 5-4.

With the score knotted at four, sophomore No. 3 Genevieve Lessard battled Trinity's Larissa Stephenson in the final match. Although Lessard was able to steal the second game from her opponent, Stephenson walked off the court with a 3-1 victory.

The men's match didn't include nearly as much drama, as the No. 1 Bantams (14-0) crushed the No. 5 Tigers (6-4), 8-1. Only junior Yasser El Halaby, Princeton's No. 1 player and two-time defending national individual champion, could manage a victory.

The women's contest featured vastly different results for the top and bottom of the lineup. While the Tigers' No. 6 through No. 9 all won their matches, Trinity carried the day by sweeping the top five spots.

Although the Bantams won all five matches, freshman No. 4 Lena Neufeld and Lessard made sure that the Bantams did not also win all the games. Neufeld was also able to wrestle a game from her opponent before falling, 3-1.

The other end of the roster was an entirely different story, however, as the Tigers dominated the bottom four matches. Freshman No. 7 Carly Grabowski's 3-1 victory extends her winning streak. She is still undefeated in dual meets this season.

Other wins were recorded by freshman No. 6 Margaret Kent, who claimed a hard-fought 3-1 win; sophomore No. 8 Anina Nolan; who earned a 3-0 win, and senior No. 9 Patricia Gadsden, who took a 3-0 victory.

Even in defeat, Princeton put up one of the best performances against the Bantams this season. Trinity has steamrolled many of its opponents, including 9-0 shutouts of Cornell and Bowdoin. With the victory over the Tigers, the Bantams extended their winning streak to four matches.

Despite having home-court advantage, the men's team had a considerably harder time against Trinity (14-0), as only El Halaby's victory prevented Princeton from being swept.

"We would have liked to have had some wins," freshman No. 2 Robert Hong said. "The atmosphere after the match was very good. We knew other teams have done more damage, but that didn't detract from the fact that we gave it all we had."

The Tigers knew they would be in for a tough match against the top-ranked Bantams, who are currently enjoying a 122-game winning streak, the longest ever in any collegiate sport.

"As a team we realized that we were completely outclassed, and no one really expected us to do a whole lot of damage," Hong said, "but we all wanted to go in there and do as much as we possibly could."

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True to status as the nation's No. 1 player, El Halaby kept his opponent Bernardo Samper at bay, wearing him down with each game for the win, 9-3, 9-2, 9-0. Samper was the last man to win the national individual championship before El Halaby began his reign at the top, winning his title his freshman year.

Beyond El Halaby, little went Princeton's way. Freshman No. 5 Tom McKay and senior No. 8 Robert Siverd were both able to steal a game from their opponents before falling, 3-1.

Another noteworthy performance came from sophomore No. 4 Preston Comey, who made his Bantam opponent fight hard for each game. Comey lost 9-5, 9-6, 9-4, the most consistently strong performance aside from El Halaby's.

The loss comes as no surprise to the Tiger fans who have seen the Princeton team struggle through this season with injuries and extenuating circumstances that have caused major shifts in the top positions.

"[The loss to Trinity] is definitely not a result of not working hard," Hong said. "The fact of the matter is that Trinity has got a really strong team. I think we were just outclassed."

The men's team has two weeks to rest and practice before the national team championships, while the women's team has just one week before its national tournament, the Howe Cup, held at Princeton next Friday through Sunday.