Trinity wins 10th straight

The first to take the court was freshman No. 3 Dave Letourneau, who had not lost a single match this season. His opponent, Manek Mathur, had fought his way to a 2-0 lead and was winning the third and decisive game 8-0. Just as it seemed the match would end with a third-game bagel, Letourneau cut his knee, putting pressure on his opponent, and managed to rally back to even the score at 8-8. He went on to win the third game with a corner drop shot that was out of Mathur’s reach. The hard-fought fourth game, however, went to Mathur, finishing the match 9-4, 9-1, 9-10, 9-6.

The No. 2 players were next to take the glass show court, where junior Kimlee Wong looked to avenge a regular-season defeat against Gustav Detter. The points in the match were long, and both players were rushing to cover each other’s shots, but the consistent Swede proved too much for Wong, who lost the match 9-7, 9-4, 9-2.

On the number four court, sophomore David Canner was hoping to defeat Trinity’s Andres Vargas as he did three weeks ago, but with Trinity already up 3-0 in overall matches and the momentum in the Bantams’ court, Vargas won 9-2, 9-4, 2-9, 9-5. In the number five court, junior Hesham El Halaby came out banging against Parth Sherma, whom he had beaten in the regular-season match against Trinity. This time, the raucous Trinity alumni, parents and junior varsity team who had congregated outside his court seemed to frustrate El Halaby, who lost the match 9-5, 9-1, 9-5.

“I’ve played Trinity enough times to know [the crowd is] obnoxious,” senior Tom McKay said, “but it definitely gets to some of the other guys.”

There was also an at-capacity crowd surrounding the match between No. 6 sophomore Santiago Imberton and Supreet Singh. Imberton showcased a wide variety of shots, mixing in angled drives and effective drop shots in a strong one-two combination. Down 2-0 in games, Imberton ended a 27-shot rally at 3-3 in the third game with an angled drop shot in the corner to take a crucial 4-3 advantage. Later in the game, Imberton hit a drive, forcing his opponent to leap for the ball and fall flat on his face. It looked like the match would go to five games, but Singh rallied back in the fourth game and won the match 9-4, 9-7, 2-9, 8-4.

Freshman No. 8 Peter Sopher lost his match against Simba Muhwati, 9-4, 9-4, 9-6, as did his brother, freshman Philip Sopher, at the No. 9 spot against the hard-hitting Rushabh Vora, 9-2, 9-3, 9-2.

The lone win for Princeton came at the No. 7 spot from McKay, who managed to take out Randy Lim. Lim took the early advantage in the match by winning the first game, 9-5.

“In the first set, I was really worried about the team match in general, and that things were not going our way, and not focusing on my game,” McKay said. “[Head coach Bob Callahan ’77] reminded me to focus on my match and my court and not to think about what the other guys were doing.”

McKay rallied back and won the final three games to close out the match 5-9, 9-1, 9-5, 9-6.

In the final match of the day on the show court, the No. 1 individual player in the nation, junior Mauricio Sanchez, took on the only player who had beaten him in the regular season, Baset Chaudhry.

“My strategy was to attack and then to attack some more,” Sanchez said. But Chaudhry, a full five inches taller and considerably heavier than Sanchez, frustrated his opponent with his overpowering drives, placement and long reach that allowed him to easily pick up Sanchez’s shots. Ultimately, Sanchez couldn’t overcome his opponent and lost 9-4, 9-1, 9-0.

“He was playing really well and was putting the pressure on me, which forced errors,” Sanchez said.

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After the match, Callahan was gracious to the 10-time champions.

“We saw that they are the best team in the country,” Callahan said. “There was nothing we could do to dent Trinity today.”

All streaks eventually come to an end, and before his team was crowned with its 10th-straight national championship, during which time his team never lost a match, Trinity coach Paul Assaiante was quick to return Callahan’s compliments.

“I don’t care if it’s two in a row or 20 in a row, this [streak] will end,” Assaiante said. “And when it does, I want it to end to Princeton. There is no other team more deserving than Princeton and no other coach as classy as Bob Callahan.”