SQUASH | Elis stay perfect

seideman_squash-60
Photo by Blair Seideman.
By James Huang
contributing reporter
Monday, January 30, 2012

This season, the men’s and women’s squash teams have both won 23 games without a single loss. Pulling ahead of squash titan Trinity on the 18th, the men’s team was named No. 1 in the national rankings Jan. 22.

The No. 1 Elis dispatched the No. 13 Naval Academy this Saturday to take their flawless season record to 11–0. The women’s team also won against a No. 11 Brown this weekend with a perfect sweep.

The men’s team defeated Annapolis 7–2. The Elis lost only at the No. 2 and No. 6 spots. At No. 2 Hywel Robinson ’14 decided to forfeit after a foot injury. Robinson said the injury is not serious and added that he would be back for practice this week.

Kenneth Chan ’13 played his usual No. 1 spot and swept 3–0.

Joseph Roberts ’15, who does not usually play in the top nine but was brought up during Yale’s match against Amherst three weeks ago, added that the 14 men on the team have all been training hard, and in the event of an incapacitating injury in the lineup, he is always ready to play. Roberts won his match at the Amherst 3–0.

At Annapolis, No. 6 Neil Martin ’14 lost in the first round, No. 3 Richard Dodd ’13, captain and No. 5 Ryan Dowd ’12, No. 8 Samuel Clayman ’12 and No. 9 Eric Caine ’14 swept their matches 3–0. In the third round, No. 4 John Roberts ’12 and No. 7 Robert Berner ’12 won their sets 3–1 and brought the total score to 7–2, although the Elis had sealed the match with a 5–2 after Chan bested his opponent.

The women also had a very decisive victory, with a clean 9–0 sweep over Brown. No. 1 Millie Tomlinson ’14, No. 2 Kim Hay ’14 and No. 3 captain Rhetta Nadas ’12 swept their individual opponents 3–0.

“Next weekend we have a couple of important games against Princeton and Penn,” Tomlinson said. “The weekend after will probably be our biggest match of the season, which is against Harvard.”

The team will travel to New Jersey and Pennsylvania next Saturday and Sunday to take on these Ivy foes.

Tomlinson added that during the beginning of the season, many players suffered minor injuries, but now that most players have recovered, she said the team is strong and confident.

The men’s team also has its sight out for fellow Ivies Penn, Princeton, Dartmouth and Harvard, which Robinson said are must-win games because of their importance for the Ivy League Conference. This Saturday, the team will take on the Tigers in New Jersey.

“We are not looking past Princeton this next weekend,” Robinson said. “They have incredible team depth and their No. 1 is tenacious.”

Going into this weekend’s matches and the rest of their regular season, both teams aim to continue their undisrupted season winning streaks.

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