SQUASH | Elis sweep Amherst

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Photo by Vivienne Jiao Zhang.
By
Contributing Reporter
Monday, January 9, 2012


Despite a respite for the winter holidays, the men’s and women’s squash teams picked up right where they left off yesterday — winning a 9-0 sweep of Amherst.

Hywel Robinson ’12 played at the top spot for the men’s, with an 11-3, 11-2, 11-2 win over Amherst’s Scott DeSantis. At the number two spot, Kenneth Chan ’13 won a 11-2, 11-6, 11-4 over David Kerr. Richard Dodd ’13 beat Steve Severson with an 11-5, 11-6, 11-9 at the third spot.

In the fourth and fifth spots, captain Ryan Dowd ’12 and John Roberts ’12 swept their opponents. Neil Martin ’14, Robert Berner ’12, Charlie Wyatt ’14 and Joseph Roberts ’15 competed at spots six through nine. The win against the No. 22 Amherst put the Bulldogs at a 4-1 record for the season.

Team captain Dowd added that since the individual championships this year are to be held at Amherst, it was advantageous for the players to get used to the feel of the courts.

Despite the win, Robinson said that Amherst was a good team and played tough at every position.

“The match of the day was at the No. 10 spot,” Robinson said. “Eric Caine ’14 had to play out of his skin to get the 3-0 win over Alex Southayd of Amherst. Caine is easily the most improved player on the team and one of the hardest working and an inspiration to the younger players.” Caine played against an old high school rival, Robinson added.

On the women’s side, Kim Hay ’14 competed for Yale at the top spot, and swept a 3-0 victory over Amherst’s Arielle Lehman. Captain Rhetta Nadas ’12 also won a 3-0 win over Kate Savage ’12. Katie Ballaine ’13, Gwen Tilghman ’14 and Lillian Fast ’14 secured 3-0 victories for Yale at the third, fourth and fifth spots, respectively.

Returning to the court after an injury in the first semester, Shihui Mao ’15 won the sixth spot, allowing her opponent only 1 point in each of the three games. Anna Harrison ’15, Issey Norman-Ross ’15, and Aly Kerr ’12 completed the Yale women’s team roster. Millie Tomlinson ’14, who normally plays No. 1 for the Yale women’s team, did not compete this week because she competed in a tournament a week ago and did not return to school with the rest of the team for preseason practice.

Next weekend, both Yale squash teams will host Stanford, Columbia, Cornell and Williams at the Brady Squash Center.

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