Men's Squash: Game, set, match: Yale takes Princeton by storm

JULIA TIERNAN/YH The men's squash team must beat Harvard to clinch the Ivy title.

When the Princeton men's squash team came to town on Sat., Feb. 6, the Tigers knew they were in for a challenge. No matter how badly their top four players could beat Yale's, they knew Yale would inflict the same damage at the bottom of the lineup. They knew they'd have to play their hardest to beat the Elis for the sixth straight year.

What the Tigers didn't realize was that their efforts would be futile. They didn't know Yale would utilize its home-court advantage to triumph 5-4 in front of a diverse crowd, including Dean Richard Brodhead, BR '68, GRD '72, and several raucous fraternity members. Even when Princeton appeared one set away from victory, the crowd continued to yell loudly as Chris Olsen, SM '02, came back. Game, set, match, Yale.

On Thurs., Feb. 18, the Elis (16-1) will try to continue to romp through the Ivy League when they travel to Harvard. The Crimson are another tough team. "We feel like we can win at every position," Yale's No. 1 player, Blake Gilpin, TC '01, said. "But we can also lose at every one of them." Yale's depth has helped it win when its top seeds have faltered in the past, but this time every player will face a challenge. Added to that challenge are other difficulties. For one, the home-court advantage will be reversed: Harvard had 1,200 people out for its last match. Moreover, Harvard's courts are concrete, while Yale has switched to a more expensive German court that has sand behind the walls. "The concrete ones hit differently," explained Josh Barenbaum, CC '01. "The ball doesn't hit as clean."

The Bulldogs have less than a week before they take on their arch-rivals. They clearly face adversity in the form of annoying Cantab fans and low-budget courts. But going into this matchup, they have something that no other Yale team has had in six years: the confidence that comes with a win over Princeton.

--David Goldenberg

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