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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton Men's Squash Newsletter: 1/30/04
January 30, 2004 | Men's Squash
Jan. 30, 2004
Princeton Squash Newsletter January 30, 2004
Dear Alumni, Parents, and Friends,
I knew it was going to be a close match, the Penn coach knew it was going to be a close match, and after two hours of heated competition, it was a VERY CLOSE MATCH!
The match started with a buzz of excitement as Penn students packed the gym looking forward to an exciting evening of competition. Our team was ready and looked forward to the challenge. We were playing a new match format which used three shifts of three matches instead of two shifts of five matches. That format allowed both the men's and women's teams to play simultaneously, and enabled each player to prepare fully before his/her match.
As the first shift of matches went on court, I knew it was important that we win at least two of the first three matches to stay on track for an overall team victory. Freshman Michael Gilman from Atlanta played number three for us, while sophomore Will Boothby from NYC played number six, and freshman Brendon Bascom from Rochester played number nine. Michael took the court with Ben Ende, a strong player from Philadelphia, and after a streaky first game in which Michael won the first four points, only to lose the next nine points and the first game, came back to win the next three games and the match, 9-1 9-5 9-1. A good start! Will Boothby, at number six, played a very solid disciplined game to beat talented Colby Emerson 9-5 9-2 9-3. So far, so good - two matches for Princeton! Brendon Bascom playing at number nine, was a little off his game and lost to Doug Weeden 9-4 9-4 9-7. After the first shift of matches, the score was 2-1 Princeton - everything was on schedule. I figured we also needed to win two of the three matches in the second shift to stay on track. Freshman Vincent Yu of Hong Kong went on court to play first team All-American, Richard Repetto at number two. Richard is a terrific shotmaker and kept Vincent off balance for the first two games winning 9-3 9-4. Vincent got into a good rhythm in the third game and went up 8-6, one point from winning the fourth game. If he could just get it to a fourth game! After a number of very tough rallies, Richard Repetto forged ahead 9-8 - match ball. Vincent didn't give up, and worked hard, but Richard hit one more winner and the match was over - point to Penn! The score now stood at 2-2. We needed to win the remaining two matches! Co-Captain Dent Wilkens played Will Simonton at number five and applied terrific pressure winning comfortably 9-1 9-5 9-1. Princeton was now ahead 3-2. We still needed Parker to win at number seven to stay on track! Parker won the first two games 9-5 10-8 and seemed to have the match under control. However, things can change suddenly, and they did! Parker's opponent picked up his game and won the next two games 9-5 9-3 and raced ahead to a 9-8 lead in the fifth game! One point from match! At the same time Nate Beck, starting up the third shift at number four, fell behind his opponent Jacob Himmelrich, 0-2 in games, and even worst, Yasser lost his first game at number one! What was happening? If we lost all these matches - we lost to Penn! Parker had to win to take the pressure off us! Parker tied up his match at 9-9, and now each player only needed one more point for a victory. Finally, after what seemed like eternity, Parker drove a backhand cross court just out of the reach of his opponent to win the match! Whew! Great finish, Parker! We were now ahead 4-2 in matches. Just one more win to ensure a team victory!
Nate Beck started to pick up the pace in his match and slowly turned the momentum in his favor. He won a close third game, 9-5, and then took control winning 9-0 9-1 in the fourth and fifth games. Whew! I could finally take a deep breath! Over on court one, Yasser came back on court and played the kind of squash we marvel at and won 9-1 9-1 9-1. More good news! Finally, freshman Preston Comey playing at number 7, started his match thinking that he might be the deciding match of the night if Parker and Nate had lost! He was ready for the challenge and came out playing very aggressively winning 9-1 9-1 9-5. The match was finally over 7-2 in favor of Princeton. Everyone knew that 7-2 did not adequately represent the closeness of the evening's match. The Penn players were terrific and displayed the highest level of sportsmanship. It was a great match and my hat goes off to a terrific Penn team!
Yale Match tomorrow, Saturday, January 31 at 1:30 pm!
Yale University comes to town tomorrow, Saturday, January 31 for a match at 1:30 pm here at Jadwin Gym. The Princeton Women's team will play Yale right after us starting at 4:00 pm. Yale is favored, having added the top U.S. high school player to their line-up, however, are looking forward to a great match! This is our only remaining home match this season so I encourage you to come out and cheer us on! All twenty of our players will compete, and one of the highlights of the afternoon will be a match between the number one ranked player in the country, our own Yasser El Halaby, against the number two ranked player in the country, Yale's Julian Illingworth!
Please come join us!
All the best,
Bob Callahan Princeton Men's Squash Coach