This past Friday and Sunday, the men’s squash team faced fellow Ivy League rivals Cornell (Overall 7-8, Ivy League 3-4) and Columbia (7-5, 5-2) to conclude regular season play. Princeton lost a close match to Big Red at home to start the week and ended the season
Princeton (3-11 Overall, 1-6 Ivy League) had an inauspicious start heading into their game against Cornell. The Tigers lost two of their starters to injury and another during the match resulting him to default his match. Yet, in spite of these setbacks, the Orange and Black seemed in position to upset Big Red throughout the match. Indeed, there 5-4 loss to Cornell may be one of their most heartbreaking matches of the season.
Sterling efforts by Juniors Vivek Dinodia and Ben Leizman, Sophomore Abhimanyu Shah, and Senior Michael LeBlanc help Princeton clinch four matches. A particularly close victory came from Ben Leizman. During the match, Leizman trailed Cornell player, Benjamin Francis. During the fourth set Leizman managed to take control of the game. He won the fourth set 11-8. In the crucial fifth set, Francis started strong, taking an early lead. However, Leizman kept his cool and came back to claim the win in an absolute thriller.
In the end, the match was not decided until the last game at the No. 1 spot. In another tight match, Freshman Clark faced off against Cornell’s Harry Freeman.
However, this time Big Red picked up the crucial win. Freeman held three matches 10-7. Each time Doyle came back, tying the match at 10-10. Freeman would fight off the comeback and clinch the win for Cornell 5-4.
The Princeton squad then traveled to New York for their last match of the regular season against the Lions. Again, the injury-ridden Tigers put up a good fight, but ultimately lost to Columbia 2-7.
Princeton’s two wins came from Ben Leizman and freshman William Oon. Leizman capped off the season with an impressive 3-1 victory over Columbia’s Salmaan Amin at the No. 8 spot. In a similarly strong showing, Oon sweeped his opponent 11-6, 11-6, and 11-7. There were some other tight matches, but the strength at Columbia’s top lineup showed throughout the game.
The Tigers now have two weeks to rest and recover before heading to Chelsea Piers for the College Squash Association (CSA), where Princeton will try and turn the season around.
Last year, Princeton qualified for “B” Flight at the CSA championship. Despite victories of two Top-8 teams, No. 7 Franklin and Marshall and No. 8 Penn, the Tigers fell short for of qualifying for a spot at “A” Flight nationals. Instead, Princeton managed to clinch the top seed at “B” Flight CSA championship. The Tigers would later then face Dartmouth in the finals. While they were undoubtedly disappointed by the result, the Tigers did not let that affect their match as they beat Big Green handily. Princeton won 6-3 to defend their Hoehn Cup title.
The men’s team will now look to improve on last years showing as they head into the CSA team championships this year.
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