After a tough 7-2 loss over the weekend to Harvard that cost the men’s squash team the Ivy championship, the Bulldogs bounced back to beat Brown 8-1 this Tuesday in Providence, R.I.

With the win, the Bulldogs improved to 9-2 overall and 5-1 in the Ivy League. The Bears fell to 3-9 overall and 0-5 Ivy. But with the conference title out of the picture, the Elis were simply playing for pride.

The team was without regular one-seed Julian Illingworth ’06, who was training in New York, and Josh Schwartz ’05, who was resting an injured hamstring. However, the Elis were deep enough to never face a real challenge from the Bears.

“Some of our nonstarters would play in the top nine at other schools,” seven-seed Chris Wyant ’05 said. “We felt we had the depth to go in there and win.”

Wyant, who defeated Aaron Rosenthal in three games, was also coming back from a broken hand that had sidelined him for three weeks. “It was great to be out there playing again,” he said. “It was a good match.”

In addition to Wyant, walk-on James Rector ’07 was able to come away with his first-ever Ivy League win.

“He did well,” Wyant said. “I was on the same court as him so I got to see him play.”

The Bulldogs only loss was at the number one position. Gavin Cumberbatch ’05, who usually plays fourth, lost a five-game contest to Breck Bailey.

Captain Ryan Byrnes ’04 did not think the Bulldogs played especially well, but well enough to come away with the victory.

“We went up there and did what we had to do,” he said.

Six-seed Alex Tilton ’06 believed the match also served to build momentum for the end of the season.

“It was obliviously tough to rebound [from the Harvard loss],” Tilton said. “We had a couple days to regroup and get a good win. It was a good way to prepare for the next couple weeks.”

The Bulldogs face off against Amherst this weekend before the Collegiate Squash Association (CSA) Team Championships, where they hope to avenge their two losses to Trinity and Harvard.

The Elis hope that their status as underdogs will help them against the top two teams in the nation.

“There’s absolutely no pressure on us now,” Byrnes said. “We have nothing to lose.”