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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Rochester
Players Mentioned
Third-Ranked Men's Squash Claims 8-1 Win Over No. 4 Rochester
February 13, 2011 | Men's Squash
Playing its most complete match of the year, the Princeton men's squash team won the first eight individual matches of its final home weekend and defeated the fourth-ranked Rochester Yellowjackets 8-1 Saturday at the Jadwin Squash Courts.
Princeton, which will host No. 1 Trinity tomorrow for the first time since the 2009 national team final, jumped out to a 3-0 after the first shift. It opened with an impressive performance from junior David Pena, who dropped a match low 10 points in a three-game win over Juan Pablo Gaviria. Classmate Christopher Callis followed with his best win of the season, a 3-1 decision over tough veteran Hameed Ahmed.
One of the best matches of the day came at the No. 9 spot, when senior Nikhil Seth won arguably the best match of his career with a 3-2 win over Karm Kumar. After dropping the first game, he won 13-11 and 12-10 marathons to take a 2-1 lead. The two took marathon a step further in the fourth, which Kumar won 16-14. Seth was the freshest of the two in the final game and won the match with an 11-3 win.
The second shift included a 3-0 victory for senior co-captain David Letourneau at the No. 2 spot. Letourneau will have one of the feature matches tomorrow when he takes on Parth Sharma in a meeting of potential national finalists. Junior Clay Blackiston topped Matt Domenick in four games, which included wins of 13-11 and 11-9.
Fellow co-captain Peter Sopher was pushed to the limit at No. 5 after holding a 2-0 lead over Adam Perkiomaki. Sopher had wins of 12-10 and 11-7 before dropping the next two, but the physically fit senior had enough for an 11-8 win in the fifth.
With the team match decided, the final shift began with 3-0 wins for both sophomore Todd Harrity (No. 1) and Kelly Shannon (No. 4). Rochester picked up its only win at the No. 7 spot, though it took another marathon effort to do so. Oscar Lopez won games of 14-12 and 19-17 just to reach the fifth set, and he was in control at the end for an 11-2 finish.
The victory all but assures Princeton of no worse than the third seed in the CSA team championships, which could mean a semifinal rematch with No. 2 Yale. Of course, that could change Sunday during the 2 p.m. showdown with Trinity. The Bantams, who haven't lost since Feb. 22, 1998, will come to Jadwin Gym for the first time since the historic 2009 national championship match. That was one of Trinity's 12 straight national titles and 225 straight team wins, which include team victories over Yale (7-2), Rochester (6-3) and Cornell (6-3) already this season. Last weekend, Trinity played without No. 1 Vikram Malhotra, but managed to defeat Harvard 6-3.
If Malhotra plays No. 1, it could set up a pair of intriguing matchups at the top of the ladder. Malhotra would face Harrity, the 2010 national individual finalist and the top-ranked player in college squash. Both players lost in last year's individual tournament to eventual winner Colin West, and both could be on a collision course to meet in the 2011 final (although there are a handful of players, including both No. 2s, who would have something to say about that).
PRINCETON 8, ROCHESTER 1
1 – Todd Harrity (P) d. Benjamin Fischer 7, 2, 6
2 – David Letourneau (P) d. William Newnham 5, 5, 6
3 – Christopher Callis (P) d. Hameed Ahmed 6, (9), 5, 7
4 – Kelly Shannon (P) d. Andres Duany 9, 8, 7
5 – Peter Sopher (P) d. Adam Perkiomaki 10, 7, (6), (9), 8
6 – David Pena (P) d. Juan Pablo Gaviria 3, 4, 3
7 – Oscar Lopez (T) d. Philip Sopher 12, (6), (9), 17, 2
8 – Clay Blackiston (P) d. Matt Domenick 11, 6, (8), 9
9 – Nikhil Seth (P) d. Karm Kumar (5), 11, 10, (14), 3