Men's Squash: Bulldogs squash Tigers' title hopes in semifinals

On Saturday, No. 2 Yale (15-2 overall, 6-0 Ivy League) rode a first-shift sweep to a 7-2 win over No. 3 Princeton (12-3, 5-1) in the national semifinals. One day later, the Tigers overcame a similar deficit to pull out a 5-4 win over No. 4 Rochester (12-5) in the consolation match. Princeton opened the weekend with an 8-1 win over the tournament host and No. 6 Harvard.

“When you’re down like that, it’s a huge momentum shift right off the bat, and there’s not a lot you can really do,” senior No. 2 and co-captain Dave Letourneau said. “Those guys are stepping on court with a bunch of confidence, since their teammates have already won.”

Earlier in the season, the Bulldogs earned a 5-4 win over Princeton in New Haven, Conn. That match had little bearing on this result, however, as a completely reshuffled Yale lineup took the court against the Tigers. Though Yale no longer had the benefit of a home crowd in the rematch, the team took control of the contest in the opening shift and never looked back.

A 3-0 Yale victory at No. 9 and a pair of 3-2 wins at No. 3 and No. 6 handed Princeton a 3-0 deficit, forcing the team to win five of the final six matches.

“We had two really close matches in the first shift that didn’t go our way,” Letourneau said. “If you have a couple bounces go our way, we’re up 2-1 instead of down 3-0.”

With the score 9-9 in the fifth game, junior No. 3 Chris Callis dropped the final two points of his match against Yale’s Kenneth Chan. Junior No. 6 David Pena experienced a similarly frustrating result, falling 11-9 in the fifth game to John Fulham.

“I think it comes down to the execution,” Letourneau said. “That’s what made the difference in all those close matches that we lost. I think we were prepared. There’s no doubt that all the guys were ready, but it’s just that sort of fraction of an inch that makes a difference.”

Letourneau and sophomore No. 1 Todd Harrity recorded Princeton’s two wins against the Bulldogs. Both players won all three of their matches last weekend to maintain perfect records heading into the individual national championships this weekend.

Despite winning the opening game of all three matches, the Tigers entered the second shift against Rochester down 3-0 the next day. Junior No. 8 Clay Blackiston’s 3-2 victory over Matt Domenick sparked Princeton’s comeback effort, as the team swept the middle shift to earn a 5-4 win. The other Tiger wins came courtesy of Harrity, Letourneau, junior No. 4 Kelly Shannon and senior No. 5 Peter Sopher.

“It was a slow start, but we were able to pull our socks up and compete our way out of a bad situation,” Letourneau said.

Despite playing in front of a partisan crowd on Friday, Princeton rolled to a decisive 8-1 win over Harvard in its opening match of the tournament. The Tigers swept the first two shifts to silence the Crimson fans and set up their Saturday match against Yale. Senior No. 7 Philip Sopher avenged a regular season loss by defeating Harvard’s Tom Mullaney 3-2.

“We got off to a slow start in that match too, but everybody battled through it and I think we competed really well on Friday,” Letourneau said. “It’s pretty good to beat Harvard at home in the first round of nationals.”

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Yale took a 4-3 lead over No. 1 Trinity in the finals, but the Bantams recovered to win the final two matches and the national championship, extending their win streak to 244 contests over 13 years.

With the team season complete, the Tigers now turn their attention to the individual championships, where Harrity and Letourneau — Princeton’s indomitable one-two punch — will enter the weekend as tournament favorites.