Despite numerous opponents this weekend, both the men’s and women’s squash teams remain undefeated.
The Brady Squash center hosted three men’s teams, No. 6 Cornell, No. 16 Columbia and No. 10 Williams, and four women’s teams, No. 6 Stanford, No. 7 Cornell, No. 16 Columbia and No. 10 Williams over the weekend. By the time those opponents left, the Eli men’s record was 6–0 and the women were 7–0.
The No. 2 men’s team faced Cornell on Saturday. During the first round of matches, Richard Dodd ’13, Neil Martin ’14 and Charlie Wyatt ’14 won their games at the No. 3, 6 and 9 spots, giving the Elis a 3–0 lead on Cornell. Captain Ryan Dowd ’12 and Robert Berner ’12 played the No. 5 and No. 7 games, respectively, to clinch the victory against Cornell.
“It was a highly anticipated match of the season because Cornell is a good team,” Dowd said. “[Wyatt’s] win at the No. 9 spot was really clutch.”
Dowd added that Wyatt had been down 0–2 against Cornell in his match and had to win his next three games to ensure his victory.
“There were a few key match points [Wyatt] won, and one of the games even went to 15–13 in overtime.”
The Elis managed to sneak past Cornell, 5–4.
On Sunday, the men’s team played one-sided matches against Columbia at noon and Williams later in the afternoon.
In their matches against Columbia, the Bulldogs swept 9–0. Most of the matches were won 3–0, except for the No. 8 spot. Despite losing the second game, Sam Shleifer ’15 pulled off a 3–1 victory for the Elis at the No. 8 spot.
The Bulldogs beat Williams 8–1. The highlight of these matches was at the No. 6 spot, played by Joseph Roberts ’15. Roberts was down 0–2 against Willams’ Andrew Maruca.
“We already had matches in the morning, and there wasn’t a lot of time to rest or eat lunch,” Roberts. “I was the first one to play, and it difficult at first to readjust. [My opponent] initially took me by surprise. After the first two games, I adjusted to his playing style and found my rhythm.”
Roberts went on to win three games back-to-back to take the match.
The women’s team also hosted games this weekend, playing Stanford on Friday in addition to Cornell, Columbia and Williams during the rest of the weekend.
On Friday against Stanford, Millie Tomlinson ’14, the No. 1 ranked player in the nation, won the No. 1 spot 3–0, with an 11–3, 11–3, 11–4 sweep. At the No. 2 spot, Kim Hay ‘14 won 3–1. Captain Rhetta Nadas ’12 lost the first two matches of the No. 3 spot 5–11, 10–12, but managed to win the next three for the match.
Yale defeated Stanford soundly, 9–0.
On Saturday, Tomlinson and Hay again played and won the No. 1 and 2 spots against Cornell. The Bulldogs went on to win 9–0.
Against Columbia on Sunday, Tomlinson again played the No. 1 spot and won 3–0. Nadas played the No. 2 spot this time, also securing a 3–0 win. Lilly Fast ’14 played at No. 3, Issey Norman-Ross ’15 at No. 4, and Aly Kerr ’12 at No. 5. The Bulldogs swept the Lions 9–0.
Hay played the No. 1 spot against Williams. Nadas again played No. 2, and Alexandra Van Arkel ’12 played No. 3. Katie Ballaine ’13, Shihui Mao ’15, and Kerr played the No. 4, 5 and 6 spots. Sisters Anne Harrison ’15 and Katie Harrison ’13 played the No. 7 and 8 spots. Coco Sierbert ’14 lost a really close match of five games at the No. 9 spot; the Elis defeated Williams 8–1.
The men’s and women’s teams are hoping the momentum from their undefeated season will propel them to victories against Trinity, whose men’s team is ranked No. 1.
“Wednesday’s match will be tough, but we are confident in ourselves at this point,” Kenneth Chan ’13, who usually plays the top spot for the men’s team, said.