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Men's Squash Pays Bob Callahan Ultimate Tribute, Battles Past Penn 5-4
January 29, 2015 | Men's Squash
COACH CALLAHAN TRIBUTES: Sitting On The Steps l TigerBlog
On side-by-side courts, Abhimanyu Shah and Ben Leizman played squash in a way that honored a coach they never played for. It hardly mattered. Nobody appreciated tough, competitive, winning squash more than Bob Callahan; when it mattered most, Shah and Leizman delivered it.
One day after the passing of US Squash Hall of Famer Bob Callahan '77, who served as the head coach of Princeton men's squash for 32 years, the Princeton Tigers paid tribute to his legacy in the most inspiring way possible. With Kristen Callahan and the five Callahan sons in attendance, they knocked off Penn 5-4 at the Jadwin Squash Courts to gain the inside track back to the 'A' flight of the national championships.
"The boys were excellent today," head coach Sean Wilkinson said. "It's been an incredibly difficult 24 hours for us, and they had the courage to take on adversity. They did it exactly the way Bob would have wanted. I'm proud of all 16 of them."
Princeton took care of business in immediate and grand fashion, sweeping the first shift to clinch the team win. Following a trio of 3-0 wins for the Tigers, both Shah and Leizman took the court with their matches even at 2-2. Shah got into a quick rhythm against Rahil Fazelbhoy to grab the early advantage and kept the pressure on for the win.
As that match progressed, Leizman was building a lead of his own. The sophomore opened a 2-0 advantage in the match before George Lemmon claimed the next two to get within one of the win. Leizman remained patient and controlled the pace of the play, moving Lemmon around and grabbing a lead of his own. He finished the match with an 11-3 win to claim the win for Princeton.
As it turned out, the Tigers needed every one of those matches, as Penn claimed all four matches of the second shift, including a thriller at the top spot. Freshman Marwan Mahmoud won a highly entertaining match on the main court over Princeton senior All-America Samuel Kang to conclude the evening.
It was Kang's classmate, Tyler Osborne, who got Princeton rolling early. Osborne, who along with Kang started on Callahan's 2012 national championship squad, was in full control on the main court for a 3-0 win over Derek Hsue. At the same time, junior Michael LeBlanc was rolling at the No. 6 spot for a 3-0 win of his own.
Osborne's brother, Jarryd, picked an ideal time for his first collegiate win. The freshman, who dealt with illness through the first half of the season, wore down Anders Larson with relentless pressure before finally claiming the win and setting up Shah and Leizman for the clinching finish.
Princeton, which came into the match ranked eighth nationally, has five matches left during the season, including four against teams ranked above it nationally. Should the Tigers defeat Brown Saturday in Providence, it would take something fairly monumental to knock them from the 'A' flight.
Princeton 5, Penn 4
1 – Marwan Mahmoud (Pe) d. Samuel Kang 3-2
2 – Tyler Osborne (Pr) d. Derek Hsue 3-0
3 – Hayes Murphy (Pe) d. David Hoffman 3-0
4 – Jarryd Osborne (Pr) d. Anders Larson 3-0
5 – James Watson (Pe) d. Taylor Tutrone 3-0
6 – Michael LeBlanc (Pr) d. Liam Quinn 3-0
7 – Augie Frank (Pe) d. Sam Ezratty 3-2
8 – Abhimanyu Shah (Pr) d. Rahil Fazelbhoy 3-2
9 – Ben Leizman (Pr) d. George Lemmon 3-2