Competition roared for the UR squash team two weekends ago at Yale University where players took on some of the best opponents from around the country.
While the talent was rampant at the meet, the Yellowjackets had difficulty compiling enough personal victories to solidify a team win, except against Wesleyan College.
The Yellowjackets kicked off their weekend against Bates College on Jan 20. Of the nine positions, no one was able to find an edge against their opponents resulting in a sweeping 9-0 defeat.
The following morning, UR took on George Washington University for the first part of the day long doubleheader. The only successful Yellowjacket was at the No. 6 seat, sophomore James Lynn, who crushed his opponent in the first two games, 9-2, 9-3, and put him away in the fourth game, 9-2.
Lynn’s triumph was well-deserved, especially after recovering from an ankle injury that had him sidelined for a good part of the season.
“Lynn is playing very well considering he had to do physical therapy all first half of the season after injuring his ankle,” captain and sophomore Patrick Harris said. “He had a solid performance and some good wins going 3-2. He’s hitting the ball real well, and is a competitor.”
Lynn’s teammates couldn’t match his success against the tough competitors from GWU as they were unable to clinch any other games. The final score of the match was 8-1 in favor of GWU.
The Yellowjackets closed out the doubleheader on a positive note against Wesleyan College. Harris led the charge from the No. 1 seat sweeping his opponent in three games.
Sophomore Ravi Gupta also showed prowess at the No. 3 position downing his opponent 3-1. Freshmen Ori Goldman and Dan Carson also earned victories at the No. 4 and 5 seats, respectively. Goldman swept his opponent 3-0 and Carson beat out his Wesleyan competition 3-2. Junior Elie Biel chipped in a victory at the No. 9 position by sweeping his opponent 3-0.
It was Carson’s win of the decisive game-five match that landed the Yellowjackets the overall victory over Wesleyan.
“Carson came through in the last game under a lot of pressure,” Harris said. “All of the matches came down to his match and he came through in a tough situation.”
The Yellowjackets tried to concentrate their building momentum against Northwestern University. As a whole, the team couldn’t put enough victories together to comprise a team win, but several players turned out great matches.
Harris defended the top position for UR, sweeping his opponent 9-6, 9-4, 9-5. Goldman defeated his opponent from the No. 4 seat by stringing together three wins in row, 9-7, 9-7, 10-9, after losing his first game, 9-7. Lynn also secured a victory at the No. 6 seat 9-5, 10-9, 9-6.
The Yellowjackets closed out their weekend at Yale against Stanford University. The team strung together some competitive matches, but they were unable to compile enough victories to constitute a team win.
Harris dominated at the top sweeping his Stanford opponent 10-9, 9-0, 9-2. Lynn helped his teammates with a 3-1 victory, 9-7, 9-4, 4-9, 9-2. Biel also chipped in a victory at the No. 9 seat battling back from a 2-0 deficit to force a decisive game five that came out in his favor.
The Yellowjackets will take a break from weekend-long competitions to focus on individual teams over a three week stretch. The team plays host to Hamilton College and Hobart College. Later on the team will square up against Franklin and Marshall College and eventually close out the regular season against Pennsylvania State University.
“Hamilton and Hobart are two beatable teams that we have our eyes set on,” Harris said. “Franklin and Marshall should be good competition since they are playing real well, and we should definitely win against Penn State.”
Right now the Yellowjackets are playing exceptionally well. They’ve moved up in the national rankings to No. 29 overall, beating out some of the best teams from around the country.
Serafini can be reached at jserafini@campustimes.org.
