On Feb. 12 the College Squash Association named the team to the No. 16 slot putting them six spots higher than they were when they started out the season.
The team closed out the regular season in dominating fashion, squashing No. 26 Hobart College 9-0. Freshmen Jim Bristow and Yohay Wakabayaski each took their matches with three straight wins. Bristow euthanized his opponent 9-0, 9-0, 9-1 and Wakabayaski got cheeky 10-8, 9-4, 9-0.
Junior Pat Harris surrendered his first match 9-7 but then reached out and slapped his opponent with three straight wins 9-2, 9-5, 9-1.
Freshmen Jamal Callender and Alex Lee defended their No. 4 and No. 5 spots with ease.
Callender had an early curtain call 9-7, 9-1, 9-4 while Lee’s challenger took some finessing before he could be subdued. Lee dropped his first match 10-8, but exacted his revenge with three straight wins 9-7, 9-7, 9-6.
Junior Jamie Lynn bowed out early, too. He squeaked past the first set 10-9, picked up momentum and widened the gap a little in the second match with 9-7, then kicked it into fifth gear with a 9-1 win in the third to sweep his position.
Sophomore Ori Goldman went the full five. He lost the first two 9-6, 9-4. Refusing to hear the fat lady sing, he nailed two 9-2 wins to his opponent’s forehead, forcing a game five. He was able to close out on top with a 9-6 win.
Sophomore Dan Carson took his match to five as well. He dropped the first 10-8, but then pinned up two 9-3 wins of his own before losing the fourth 9-6. The game five came down to the wire with 10-8 victory going to Carson for the No. 8 spot.
Senior Elie Biel held up the No. 9 with an early exit. He swept his opponent 9-4, 9-5, 9-7. The win over Hobart bumped the Yellowjackets to 10-6 on the season.
Because of their six spot jump in the national rankings, the Yellowjackets found themselves members of a new group this year at the CSA Championship. Last year, as well as the year before, they belonged to the Conroy Division, consisting of teams ranked No. 25 through No. 32.
This year the team had the luxury of taking part in the Hoehn Division, reserved only for teams ranked ninth through 16th, meaning they skipped out in the division they were listed in at the beginning of the season.
The field consisted of familiar adversaries. No. 9 Bates College had punished the Yellowjackets early in the second half of the season at the Yale Round Robin Tournament.
The story didn’t change much the second time these two met. Bates took each spot except for Bristow’s, who tacked up another sweep, 9-2, 9-1, 9-4.
No. 13 Brown polished off the Yellowjackets in similar fashion. Bristow was the only member of his team able to defend his seat with a quick 9-5, 9-3, 9-3 sweep.
No. 14 Franklin and Marshall College played a similar tune for the Yellowjackets. Bristow once again cleaned house 9-1, 9-2, 9-1. Harris also staved off his opponent 9-7, 9-7, 9-4. That was all the Yellowjackets could muster from Franklin and Marshall.
Bristow has had a tremendous season. He’s 66-1 in games this season and it doesn’t look like he’s finding many roadblocks here in the states. He will have a chance this weekend to prove himself to some of the top players in the country at the CSA individual tournament at the University of Pennsylvania.
Serafini is a member of the class of 2008.
