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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
Yale (Semifinal)
Players Mentioned
Early Sweep Sends Yale To Men's Squash National Final At Princeton's Expense
February 27, 2011 | Men's Squash
A devastating sweep in the first shift was too much to overcome for the Princeton men's squash team, which dropped a 7-2 quarterfinal to second-seeded Yale Saturday during the CSA Potter Cup national championships, being held at Harvard. Princeton will now face Rochester Sunday at 3 p.m. for third place in the nation.
Princeton knew it would need to strike early against the two-time reigning Ivy League champion, and through three games, the Tigers were in position. Yale picked up the first point with a 3-0 win at No. 9 from Christopher Plimpton over Steve Harrington, but both Christopher Callis (No. 3) and David Pena (No. 6) held 2-1 leads. Pena was close in both the fourth and fifth games, but John Fulham closed the match with wins of 12-10 and 11-9 to give Yale a 2-0 lead.
Callis dropped the fourth game to former Yale No. 1 Kenneth Chan, but played a tight fifth. Chan had the answers in the end, though, and finished the match with an 11-9 victory.
That outcome may have taken some of the air from the Princeton balloon, as the Tigers were defeated by the end of the second shift. Junior Clay Blackiston picked up a win in the first game of his match at No. 8, but Yale's Robert Berner won three close games to finish the match. At No. 5, Yale's John Roberts took a 16-14 win in the first over senior co-captain Peter Sopher and built that into a 3-0 win.
Princeton did grab its first win of the match, though it had plenty of drama getting it done. Senior co-captain David Letourneau, who was undefeated in his Ivy League regular season career, had to rally back after losses of 12-10 and 11-9, but he got the job done with wins of 11-4, 11-4 and 11-6.
Princeton sophomore Todd Harrity continued his undefeated season with an 11-3, 11-2, 11-4 victory over Hywel Robinson at No. 1, but Yale added wins at No. 4 and No. 7 to complete the 7-2 win.
The third-place match will be a rematch from the 2010 CSA championships, when Princeton defeated Rochester to take third overall.
1 - Todd Harrity (P) d. Hywel Robinson 3, 2, 4
2 - David Letourneau (P) d. Naishadh Lalwani (10), (9), 4,
4, 6
3 - Kenneth Chan (Y) d. Christopher Callis (7), 8, (6), 5, 9
4 - Richard Dodd (Y) d. Kelly Shannon 9, 8, 10
5 - John Roberts (Y) d. Peter Sopher 14, 5, 8
6 - John Fulham (Y) d. David Pena (12), 10, (4), 10, 9
7 - Ryan Dowd (Y) d. Philip Sopher 6, 1, 9
8 - Robert Berner (Y) d. Clay Blackiston (6), 5, 9, 8
9 - Christopher Plimpton (Y) d. Steve Harrington 10, 3, 5