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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
ISA Championships
Trinity Claims National Squash Crown With 6-3 Win Over Princeton
February 23, 2003 | Men's Squash
Feb. 23, 2003
PRINCETON, N.J. - Hundreds of fans that were gathered at the main court at Jadwin Gym were treated to a trio of exciting wins by the top three players on the Princeton men's squash team. Quietly, Trinity claimed its sixth consecutive national team championship by winning the remaining six matches on the other two courts.
For the second straight season, Princeton has fallen in the championship match to Trinity. After falling 8-1 three times to Trinity over the last two years, the Tigers fought hard to earn two more wins, but the Trinity depth was simply too strong.
In the first series of matches, Trinity won two of three. Princeton's first win came from David Yik, the 2001 intercollegiate singles champion. Yik fell 9-4 in the first game, but held Nick Kyme to one point in the next two games to carry a 2-1 lead into the fourth game. Yik jumped out to a lead, but Kyme was able to claw back into it with a couple points. The Princeton senior made sure he wouldn't get close enough and used one final surge to clinch a 3-1 win. By the time that match was finished, the second series of matches had already begun on the courts two and three. No. 6 Nadem Osman and No. 9 Carl Baglio of Trinity earned 3-0 wins over Aaron Zimmerman and Rob Siverd.
The second series of matches were crucial to Princeton, which needed to take two to have a legitimate shot at the title. Will Evans did his part at No. 2, rallying from 2-1 down to take an exciting 3-2 win over Michael Ferreira in a meeting of the No. 4 and 5 ranked players in the country. No. 8 Nathan Beck earned one game against Pat Malloy, but Trinity would get its third team point with a 3-1 win in that match. At No. 5, Reggie Schonborn did a terrific job not allowing Princeton's Eric Pearson, who has made a career out of winning crucial matches, to ever get rolling. Schonborn won 3-0, meaning Trinity needed one win in the final three matches to claim the title.
As the majority of the fans gathered for a meeting of the two top-ranked players in the country, Princeton's Yasser El-Halaby and Trinity's Bernardo Samper, No. 7 Jon Smith took out Dent Wilkens on court three to win the national title. It hardly affected the enthusiasm on the main court, as El-Halaby rallied from 8-5 down in the first game to take a 10-8 win. The Princeton freshman avenged his only collegiate loss, which he suffered last week to Samper, by sweeping to a 3-0 victory.
Badan closed the match by rallying from 2-0 down to defeat Dan Rutherford 3-2 at No. 4.
This was the final match at Jadwin Gym for Princeton's Class of 2003. Arguably the best class in Princeton men's squash history, Evans, Yik, Rutherford and Pearson helped Princeton to three Ivy League titles in four years, tying a program record. The group also earned the 2003 National Five-Man Title, the 2001 intercollegiate singles championship (Yik) and a 2002 intercollegiate singles finalist (Evans).
For complete results, visit http://www.squashtalk.com/collegesquash/MensCSAteams03.htm.