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Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Men's Squash Begins Key Homestand With Final Ivy Weekend
February 04, 2011 | Men's Squash
The Princeton men's squash team can't control its destiny in the Ivy League race, but it can prepare itself for a run at the national championship with a quartet of challenging tests at the Jadwin Squash Courts. With No. 4 Rochester and No. 1 Trinity looming next weekend, the Tigers will complete their Ivy League season against No. 7 Dartmouth and No. 6 Harvard.
Princeton will take on Dartmouth Saturday at 2 p.m., and will continue its storied rivalry with Harvard Sunday at noon. Sunday's match will be streamed live on GoPrincetonTigers.TV, as will both of next weekend's matches.
Princeton dropped a 5-4 thriller at Yale last weekend, leaving the second-ranked Bulldogs in control of the Ivy race. Princeton put up a terrific effort on the road, winning four matches and losing two in five sets. One of Princeton's most impressive wins came from David Letourneau, who fought through four tough games to pull out an 11-8, 11-8, 9-11, 11-9 victory over former Yale No. 1 Kenneth Chan. Letourneau, a three-time All-America honoree and the 2008 Ivy League Rookie of the Year, has the chance to record an impressive feat this weekend. He has never lost in an Ivy League team match in his career.
Head coach Bob Callahan got to see more of his projected lineup last weekend, with junior Kelly Shannon returning to the No. 5 position and earning a 3-1 win over Yale's John Fulham. Shannon has had some terrific late-season showings in his career, but he could enter this postseason with more match play than in either of his previous two injury-plagued seasons.
Another impressive performance last weekend came from junior David Pena, whose 13-11 victory in the third game pushed him to a 3-1 victory over Ryan Dowd at the No. 6 spot. Pena has had two extremely strong wins in the last year; his win over Antonio Diaz Glez in the 2010 CSA semifinal gave Princeton a temporary 2-1 lead over top-ranked Trinity.
Dartmouth is 7-5 overall, but it enters the weekend winless in the Ivy League. It is in the middle of a tough road trip, which included 7-2 losses at No. 4 Rochester and No. 5 Cornell. The Big Green got a highlight win from No. 1 Chris Hanson, who pulled out an 11-6 win in the fifth to earn victory against Rochester.
Harvard is 6-2 on the season and will have a chance to move up the national rankings late in the season with matches remaining against the nation's top three teams. After losing 2010 national champion Colin West, the Crimson has turned to freshman Gary Power to take over the No. 1 spot.