Men's and Women's Squash Stampede Over Big Green

There are coaches who would sell their soul to the devil for the kind of situation rookie Harvard squash Coach Bill Doyle stepped into this year. Sell their soul, and not even mention Daniel Webster when the ol' Evil One comes to collect.

His men's team (the defending national champion) is on top of college squash again with last Sunday's 6-3 win at Princeton.

His women's team...well, he has the defending national championship team and the defending national champion player, junior Jordanna Fraiberg.

And here's the kicker: the women are so good, Fraiberg plays third on her own team. (Granted, she did take last term to study in India and she isn't completes healthy. But still.)

"No team is as strong as us said junior Vanya Desai, who plays in the top spot. "Even us, we're as strong as we've been in a couple of years."

So when Dartmouth rolls into town, like it did yesterday at Hemenway .Dovelthe result is somewhat predictable.

A double shutout 9-0, 9-0 in a moment of weakness, called it normal.

"It wasn't one of our toughest matches of the year," junior John Paltrey said.

Beyond that, nobody really had much to say about the match. What was there Women's Co-Captain Cartic Cunningham reduced her opponent to smashing her racquet against the wall and whimpering. Sophomore Libby Eynon second on the team hardly broke a sweat while loving with her opponent like a cat with a mouse.

The phrase "cruise control" was made for meets like this.

"They re playing hard and working hard. Dovle said "Coming off the big games at Princeton, that's good for us."

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Steamroller Blues While the men reestablished themselves as the team to beat with last Sunday's 6-3 win over the Tigers, the women confirmed what everybody already knew. The Crimson is really, really, really good, as it defeated Princeton 9-0 for the first time "in a long, long time," according to Desai.

Beating Princeton 9-0 is domination comparable to Alabama defeating Miami 34-10 in college football. (Wait a minute....)

"Although it was 9-0, we had a couple of tough matches," Desai said. "[Sophomore] Rosie [Stovell] was taken to five games in one of them."

With the win, the women have effectively locked up the national title. Princeton has already defeated Yale, Harvard's other top competitor, so Desai sees the road as downhill.

"Yale's not going to be as close," she said. "Princeton was our toughest match."

Some kind of tough.

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Weekend Action: The top three players on the men's and women's teams are headed to Philadelphia this weekend for the four-day USSRA Individual Championships.

Co-Captain Marty Clark, junior Adrian Ezra and freshman Tal Ben-Shacher will go from the men's team while Desai, Fraiberg and Fynon will compete for the women.

In the men's bracket, Ezra and Clark should both be seeded in the top four, according to Doyle.

The men's competition is open only to amateurs, unlike the women's brackets which are also open to professionals.

The Harvard women are expected to advance deep into the 64-player draw, but a Harvard victory would require a "major, major upset," according to Doyle.

It is rare for college players to win this tournament, several team members said.

But as the Murphy of "everything that can go wrong..." fame is rumored to have said, never expect miracles--rely on them.

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Roll Call in the Training Room: Sophomore Jon Karlen (hip injury) and Ben-Shachar (flu) did not play yesterday. Men's Co-Captain Neal Tew is also out, but Ben-Shachar will play this weekend, and all three are expected back for the Howe Cup next weekend.

HARVARD, 9-0

at Hemenway Gym

Women's Singles

1. Desai (Harvard) def. Greatrex (Dartmouth) 3-0 3-0 2.Eyton (H) def. Scott (D), 3-0, 3-0: 3. Fraiberg (H) def. Artzer (D) 3-0, 3-0: 4. Cunningham (H) def. Gemmill (D), 3-0, 3-0. 5. Dockery (H) def. Cohn (D), 3-0, 3-0: 6. Shergalis (H) def. T. Cunningham (D) 3-0, 3-0: 7. Stovell (H) def. Gallegher (D), 3-0, 3-0: 8. Butter (H) def. Merkel (D), 3-0, 3-0: 9. Rand (H) def. Packet (D), 3-0, 3-0

HARVARD (M), 9-0

at Hemenway Gym

Men's Singles

1. Clark (Harvard) def.Miron (Dartmouth), 3-0, 3-0: 2. Ezra (H) def. Hammond (D), 3-0, 3-0: 3. Horwitz (H) def.B.Cho (D), 3-0, 3-0: 4. Bruenner (H) def. Daily (D), 3-0, 3-0: 5. White (H) def. Yasuda (D), 3-0, 3-0: 6. On (H) def. C Cho (D), 3-0, 3-0: 7. Masland (H) def. Hamilton (D), 3-0, 3-0: 8. Pratt (H) def. Chan (D), 3-0, 3-0: 9. Kaplan (H) def. Campbell (D), 3-0, 3-0.