Racquetmen Dispose of Diplomats, 7-2

The nation's number-three ranked Franklin & Marshall squash team learned the hard way that a pot of gold is not always found at the end of the rainbow.

Sometimes there's a pot of disappointment.

The rainbow ended at Hemenway Gymnasium for the Diplomats last Friday, and the gold belonged to the nation's number-one Harvard men's squash team.

Despite a two and a half hour struggle, the Diplomats could not up their national ranking or down the nearly invincible Crimson.

The racquetmen lived up to their ranking with an incredible 7-2 victory over Franklin & Marshall (now 7-1) in front of 350 spectators--some of whom came wearing red and white face paint.

The triumph extended the Crimson's winning streak to 52 consecutive games, and upped the squad's record to 5-0.

The competition opened with the Crimson's number two player, Rusty Ball, earning a victory over F & M's Christian Spahr, 15-8, 15-11, 15-13, giving Harvard a lead that it would never relinquish.

In one of the many exciting matches, Harvard's John Bernheimer fell behind 2-1 in games, but then unleashed an overpowering stroke and came back to win the next three games.

Harvard Co-Captain Kevin Jernigan followed up Bernheimer's victory with a 13-15, 15-13, 15-9, 17-16 win, increasing the squad's lead to 3-1.

In a match that lasted one hour and 15 minutes, Harvard's number-one Darius Pandole lost a close match to F & M's Morris Clouthier.

After losing the first two games 6-15, 13-15, Pandole bounced back to win the next two games. But in the fifth and deciding game, the junior jumped out to a 10-3 lead. But Clouthier made an amazing comeback to win 16-14, closing the Crimson's lead to 4-2.

Meanwhile, the three remaining matches were tied at 1-1, making things a little tense for the racquetmen.

Probably the most important win for the Crimson occured in the number seven slot when Jack Colbourne defeated the Diplomats' Nathainel Otis, 15-8, 13-16, 15-12, 16-17, 15-10.

"Jack pulled out the most gusty performance," Harvard Assistant Coach Peter Dinneen said. "He handled the pressure well. After some questionable calls he kept his poise. It was a relief when he won."

"The players showed more poise than the coaches," Dinneen added. "All of the players on the court knew that if they had lost their matches, we would have lost 5-4."

However, Co-Captain Joe Dowling scored a 15-12, 15-16, 15-12, 15-12 victory to seal the Crimson's fifth win of the season.

Will Iselin closed out the year's toughest match from the fifth spot.

"The fan support was amazing," Jernigan said. "The fans were a lot more vocal than in last year's match against Princeton. It was nice to have support at home."

"I think we showed a lot of depth," Dowling said. "They were a tough team. We were so psyched to have so many friends and fans at the game. It gave us an extra push."

THE NOTEBOOK: When Doug Lifford was shut-out, it marked the first time that a Harvard player did not win at least one game this season.