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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton Squash Newsletter, March 8
March 08, 2000 | Men's Squash
March 8, 2000
Dear Alumni, Parents, Friends, and Colleagues,
It has been a very busy two weeks and I have so much to tell you!
Last weekend our co-captain,? Peter Yik, won his second National Intercollegiate Singles Championship at Williams College winning six matches without losing a game! He was also the recipient of the most prestigious award in college squash, the Skillman Trophy, for his superb sportsmanship. The Princeton team won the Barnaby Trophy for its superb sportsmanship throughout the season. Five of our seven juniors and seniors were named National Scholar-Athletes, based on their cumulative 3.5 or higher GPA's.? Not bad for a few weeks work!
Two weekends ago, the top thirty-six men's college squash teams in the country met at Yale to compete for the end of season National Team Championships.? The teams were divided into four brackets of eight teams each and one bracket of four teams based on their regular season rankings.? Princeton was seeded second in the top Division and our goal was to beat seventh ranked Denison in the quarter-finals, repeat our victory over third ranked Harvard in the semi-finals, and earn a re-match with Trinity College in the finals.? Our players were ready, healthy, and eager to finish off the season on a high note. The Denison match went according to plan as Peter Yik beat a very strong player, Arif Paul, in four close games while younger brother, David, upset one of the top players in the country at number two. Everyone else looked ready for the big showdown with Harvard!
Our match with Harvard was billed as the match of the weekend.? Everyone knew how close it had been up at Cambridge two weeks earlier when we edged Harvard by three points in the last match to win the Ivy League title.? The gallery was packed as the two teams came out for introductions.? Harvard's line-up had changed over the past two weeks and the match ups were tougher for Princeton this time around, but we still felt we had a good chance.? As the first shift of matches went out, assistant coach, Neil Pomphrey, and I felt we needed to split these four matches if we were to have any chance of winning.
David Yik at number two played solidly as he has all season and won in four games.? He is the rock of Gibraltar for us and finished the season with a remarkable 13-1 record!? Harrison Gabel, who had won a? crucial match for us at number eight in Cambridge, looked out of sorts today and never got his rhythm losing 3-0.? Dan Rutherford, one of our top freshman, made a remarkable recovery from a serious ankle injury over Christmas and played Dylan Patterson at number six.? Dylan had dropped from the number four spot where he had played two weeks earlier.? Dan lost the first game, won the second game, and went to 16-16 in the third game, simultaneous game point!? With Dan's ankle still weak, it was crucial he won this game if he was to win the match!? Unfortunately, Dylan took the point and the game 17-16.? Unbelievably, Dan fought back and won the fourth game and, grimacing as he played, fought to 12-12 in the final game, three points away from victory!? After three exhausting points, Dylan prevailed, but Danny had shown the heart of a true fighter and champion.? It was one of the gustiest performances I have ever seen!
Princeton was now down 2-1 in matches with Eric Pearson at number four still on court.? This was a crucial match if we were to be on target at two all in matches entering the second shift! Eric was playing Shondip Ghosh, a very talented player who had moved up to the number four spot from number six two weeks earlier. Eric and Shondip split the first two games as each tried to probe each other for weaknesses.? Game three was a struggle and it went to Shondip as did, unfortunately, game four. Things didn't look good!? We were down 3-1 in matches and needed to win four of the last five if we were to win!? A very tough uphill battle!
As the second shift went out the players knew the task that lay ahead of them.? Peter Yik played brilliantly against one of his good friends and rivals, Tim Wyant, prevailing 17-16, 15-10, 15-10.? At number three Peter Kelly, playing brilliantly won the first two games 15-10, 15-10.? Marshall Sebring at number seven was ahead 2-0 in games, while Will Evans at number three was 1-1 in games and Randolph McEvoy was 2-2 in games at number nine.? We might just pull off another miracle this week!
Peter Kelly at his best has the quickest hands in the game.?? He volleys beautifully and keeps his opponent under extreme pressure. His opponent, Gray Witcher, had beaten Peter at Harvard two weeks earlier, was struggling in the first two games. In game three he settled down and started to make some great shots. After an hour and fifteen minutes of punishing squash, Gray prevailed over a spent Peter Kelly late in the fifth game.
Marshall Sebring, who was up 2-0 in games, got to match point in the third game at 16-16.? His opponent, David Barry, won the point, and the game.? David went on to win the fourth game knotting the score at 2-2! Marshall, however, was not to be denied as he came back to win the fifth game decisively 15-8.? It was 4-3 Harvard with two matches to go.? We had to win them both!? Randolph McEvoy, at number nine, kept scrambling and digging against a far more experienced player and tied the game score at 2-2.?? Shockingly he took a 12-7 and 13-9 lead in the fifth game.? The miracle was alive!? His opponent, Eric Lauer, however, staged his own comeback and slowly, methodically cut into Randolph's lead until he caught him at 13-13.? High drama as the crowd was on the edge of their seats!? Eric and Randolph traded drives and dives right to very end until Harvard prevailed 15-13 in the fifth!
It was over!? Harvard had won!? It? was as close with as many turns and momentum changes as the match in Cambridge had, but this time Harvard prevailed.? They played great and deserved the win. It was a very hard fought match with great sportsmanship on both sides.? As a tired and disappointed Princeton team headed back to the hotel that night, we knew we had given it our all and were anxious to finish strong the next day in our final match of the season against Yale.
On Sunday we beat Yale 8-1.? Harvard went on to lose to Trinity 8-1 in the finals.? Trinity showed why they are the dominant team in college squash right now and why they may be the best team ever.? They are awesome, with eight strong international players and one top American, Preston Quick.
This past weekend the National Intercollegiate Individual Championships were held showcasing the very best men's and women's players in the country. The top sixty-four men and women were invited to decide who is the best of the best!? For the men, everyone expected the two dominant players of the past four years, defending Champion Peter Yik, and the 1997 and 1998 Champion, Trinity's Marcus Cowie to reach the finals.? They have played five times over the past four years with Peter holding a slim 3-2 advantage winning their most recent match 17-14 in the fifth game!? Cowie had been training hard this past week in preparation for his final run at the title. If he won again, he would join only a handful of players who had won the title three times. As both Peter and Marcus knew, the key to winning the National Title is to win your early round matches as quickly as possible, so you can conserve as much energy as possible for the later rounds.? The tournament format is brutal requiring the eventual champion to win six matches over three days!
On Friday and Saturday Peter and Marcus advanced with efficient performances, neither one losing a game. On Sunday in the semi-finals, Peter played the U.S.'s top collegiate player from Trinity College, Preston Quick.? Preston is very quick with tireless energy, great court coverage, and a wonderful attitude on court.? His one weakness is his inability to consistently attack with a drop shot to the front of the court.? Peter planned to exploit this weakness by taking Preston to the front of the court over and over again with soft clinging drop shots that forced Preston to respond from an uncomfortable position. Peter is the quickest player in the game and he consistently cut off Preston's responses for winners.? The final score was 15-9, 15-10, 15-11 for Peter. In the other semi-final, Marcus Cowie advanced with a 3-1 victory over Harvard's Tim Wyant.? The dream final was set up!
On Sunday at 4:00 p.m. the two finalists strode on to the court to thunderous applause and great anticipation.? Who would take the final match between these two great champions?? Marcus at 6' 2" and Peter at 5' 2" provided a stark contrast in size.? Both players have great skills and tremendous respect for each other.? In game one Marcus came out firing the ball with incredible pace, using his height advantage to cut off all of Peter's shots and making the gallery wonder if Peter belonged on the same court as Marcus!? Marcus jumped out to a 5-0 lead, then 7-2, 10-3, and finally 14-10!? But Peter kept chipping away at the lead, forcing Marcus to retrieve Peter's delicate drops at every opportunity.? The tactic started to take its toll as Marcus started to slow down at the end of the first game.? At 10-14, they played four great points with Peter winning them all to tie up the score at 14-14.? Marcus chose set one, meaning sudden death.? After a long point, Marcus sprinted to the front right corner to retrieve a drop shot and tried a desperation reverse corner that was hit so hard that no one knew whether it was a winner or an error!? Marcus turned to the referees and displaying great sportsmanship, signaled that his shot was down.? The gallery was stunned at this reversal of fortunes and eagerly awaited what would happen in game two.
Marcus came out and won the first point of the second game and then inexplicably started making uncharacteristic errors one after another.? He lost fifteen straight points and the second game 15-1!? All I could think of was the match they played as freshmen, when Peter was leading 2-0 in games and was well on his way to victory in the third game when Marcus made a great comeback tying up the score at 2-2 and taking the lead in the final game!? My message to Peter was short and sweet, "focus and work even harder to the finish".? He took charge and won the third game 15-4!? The gallery went wild congratulating both players on a great squash match.? Peter and Marcus gave heartfelt speeches thanking everyone for four great years of squash.? As they left everyone knew that two of the finest squash players in college history were gone, a great era had passed!
The good news for Princeton is that there is another Yik here for Peter to pass the torch to. David, who is a freshman, had a great weekend upsetting Trinity's Lefike Ragontse and finishing in the final eight.? It would be great to see both brothers names on the trophy in future years!
The rest of the team played very well over the weekend winning huge matches.? Will Evans finished in the top twelve beating Dartmouth's number one player, William's number two player, and almost upsetting Trinity's Jon Smith?? Peter Kelly turned the tables on Harvard's Gray Witcher beating him 15-13 in the fifth game after being down 0-2 in games and five match points in the fourth and fifth games!? Dan Rutherford played despite his bad ankle and beat Yale's number two player, Peter Grote, after trailing 0-1 in games and 9-14 in the second game!
It was great weekend!? Julia Beaver captured her second National Women's Intercollegiate title, coming back from 2-1 deficits in both the semi-finals and finals!? A second double-double for Peter and Julia!
It has been a great season. One I have enjoyed so much.? Our goals back in September were to win the Ivy League Championship, win the National Sportsmanship award, and finish with the most Scholar Athletes awards of any team.? We accomplished all those goals and more.
I want to thank you for following the team this season.? I look forward to keeping you up to date on our recruiting results this spring as well as news about our upcoming alumni squash "extravaganza" over reunions!
All the best to you and your family,
Bob Callahan Princeton Men's Squash Coach