Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Rochester (Third-Place Match)
Players Mentioned
Men's Squash Tops Rochester 7-2 To Place Third At CSA Championships
February 22, 2010 | Men's Squash
If today's men's squash showdown between third-seeded Rochester and fourth-seeded Princeton was an Olympic event, it would have been for the bronze medal. With a third-place finish on the line at the CSA national team championships, Princeton avenged an earlier loss to Rochester with a hard-fought 7-2 victory over the Yellowjackets.
Playing without a pair of senior starters (the injured David Canner and Santiago Imberton both missed Sunday's match), Princeton head coach Bob Callahan turned to nine players who will all return next season. That squad came up big against a Rochester team that fell to Yale Saturday in a 5-4 semifinal thriller.
"This is a great finish to the season, especially since we were without our two seniors," Callahan said. "The guys are really excited about how they played today."
The first shift had the potential to be an ugly one for the Tigers. No. 3 Chris Callis trailed 1-0 and 2-1 in games, and then 10-8 in the fifth. No. 6 Peter Sopher trailed 2-0 in games, and his twin brother Philip Sopher (No. 9) was even at 1-1 in his match. In the end, Princeton won all three matches. Callis won the final four points of his match against the talented Hameed Ahmed for a comeback win, while Peter Sopher won the final three games 9-6, 9-4, 9-3 to win at No. 6. Philip Sopher ended with wins of 9-5 and 9-7 to clinch his match at No. 9.
Although it held a 3-0 lead at that point, Princeton was well aware that there was still work to be done. Rochester got its first point with a 3-0 win by William Newnham at No. 5, but Princeton's David Letourneau countered at No. 2 with a 3-1 win over Jim Bristow. The biggest win of the shift came from Nikhil Seth at the No. 8 position, who won the first and third games but lost both even ones. Seth won 11-6 in the fifth to clinch the team win.
Princeton finished with two more wins in the final shift. Freshman Todd Harrity was impressive in a 3-0 win over Benjamin Fischer at No. 1, while Clay Blackiston used a pair of 12-10 wins to earn a 3-1 win at No. 7. Andres Duany scored Rochester's other win with a 3-0 victory at No. 4.
This was the final team match for Princeton, but players will return to the court in two weeks for the CSA individual championships, held the first weekend in March at Trinity.
1 - Todd Harrity (P) d. Benjamin Fischer 1, 7, 4
2 - David Letourneau (P) d. Jim Bristow 4, 11, (7), 7
3 - Chris Callis (P) d. Hameed Ahmed (7), 8, (10), 8, 10
4 - Andres Duany (R) d. Kelly Shannon 8, 6, 3
5 - William Newnham (R) d. David Pena 7, 5, 8
6 - Peter Sopher (P) d. Matt Domenick (7), (9), 6, 4, 3
7 - Clay Blackiston (P) d. Joe Chapman 10, (6), 8, 10
8 - Nikhil Seth (P) d. Oscar Hidalgo 8, (8), 8, (7), 6
9 - Philip Sopher (P) d. J.P. Gaviria 8, (7), 5, 7