Squash: After long layoff, men, women return to courts for key matches against Bulldogs

“Our hard work paid off in the fall,” senior captain Dave Letourneau said. “We get five or six weeks without competition and we can get a little jittery. But we’ll be ready to compete because Penn is a good opponent and Yale is the strongest they’ve ever been.”

The No. 3 men’s team (5-0) will be focusing their sights primarily on a No. 2 Yale squad (5-0) that came away with a surprise win against the Tigers last season in a tight 4-5 contest. With a similar Bulldog team returning this year, sophomore Todd Harrity said he believes that Yale is the pre-match favorite.

“I think on paper they are favored to beat us again this year,” he said in an e-mail. “We can certainly win, but everyone is going to need to play well. There will be no margin for error.”

But with confidence high and strong performances throughout the lineup all season, Princeton believes it can take what will undoubtedly be a close, hard-fought match.

“It comes down to toughening up in the close matches and staying with them all the way down the line,” Letourneau said. “Our six through nine [slots] have been good, but really everyone’s had good results and really shown improvement this year.”

As the team begins to move into the heart of the season, it will be hoping to rack up all the wins it can in the Ivy League before facing perennial powerhouse and current No. 1 Trinity in the last match of the year.

“There’s a lot more parity in the league this year,” Letourneau said. “All the teams will be tough, so we’re hoping we can win all these matches.”

On the women’s side, No. 4 Princeton will be hoping to avenge last season’s disappointing 3-6 loss to No. 5 Penn (4-1) before taking on an experienced No. 2 Yale team (5-0) in Connecticut in its first big match-ups of the year.

“Penn is strong, but Yale in particular had a huge recruiting class this year,” senior Jackie Moss said. “It’s going to be the hardest match we’ve had all season, since usually our schedule is easier before Christmas.”

The team will be turning to sophomore and No. 1 seed Julie Cerullo, who is undefeated this year; Moss; and freshman Libby Eyre to win the big matches against Penn and Yale. With a narrow gap this year between all the Ivy League teams and Trinity, the team leaders are looking to fine-tune their already stellar play.

“We’ve all been playing well, but I know that there’s another level we can get to,” Moss said.

Coming into this part of the season last year, the team had already lost twice, but a strong freshman class has rejuvenated this year’s Tigers.

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“Last year we had a number of injuries,” Moss said. “Most of our senior class was injured, but we’ve got a strong freshman class, the team is way closer, and we’re having a lot of fun.”

Like the men’s team, the women will be working hard to stay focused and healthy as the season nears its midway point.

“It’s really hard being focused,” Moss said. “Squash is hard on your body, so it gets tough coming to practice, continuing to play, continuing to stay focused for the last six weeks of the season.”