After defeating Yale at home, the University of Rochester Men’s Squash team hoped to continue their win streak against some of the top teams in the nation on the road. To begin, the Yellowjackets traveled to compete against third-ranked Harvard. The team fell behind early, entering the final four matches of the contest down 1–4. It seemed like an insurmountable deficit, and it looked like the Crimson would capture the first contest between the two consistently competitive squash teams. That is, until the Yellowjackets managed to capture the final four matches, securing the win. “That was a great result for us. That really showed us that we can come back from any deficit,” Junior Christian Reidelsheimer said.
Keeping their momentum, the Yellowjackets continued their road trip to the perennial college squash powerhouse, first-ranked Trinity. Trinity, whose top ranking is well deserved—the team has not lost more than two matches in any single contest against any of the teams faced this year—has only lost once at home in the past 15 years. The Yellowjackets began with a rocky start, dropping all three of the first wave of matches. In order to keep hopes of an upset alive, Rochester won all three matches in the second wave. In the last wave, the first two matches were split between the two teams, allowing the contest to be decided between the number-one player on each squad. The top Trinity player captured the 5th game to secure the contest.
The Yellowjackets split the weekend with one win and one loss, but according to Reidelsheimer, hopes are very high.
“We were gutting to go down 4–5 with the final match only 2 points away from the win,” he said. “Although we lost that match, it really proved to us that we really can go all the way this year.” Moving forward, the team will be competing again this weekend at home. The team has great potential moving forward and will improve its ranking on the national scale after this last weekend.
