Men's Squash Defeats Tough Bear Squad, 7-2

The Harvard men's squash team began its dual meet campaign in fine fashion Friday night, beating Brown 7-2.

The match was a strong win marked by well played squash from the entire Harvard team. The team was led by junior co-captain Tal Ben-Shachar who opened the match with a win for the Crimson at the number-one position.

In a squash match, teams play nine individual matches. Each match consists best-of-five sets. Each set is played to 18. Individual victories count as one point to the team score for the match.

"I am very optomistic about our team," Ben-Shachar said. "We started the season in excellent form."

The win was even more impressive considering the Crimson was not playing with its full line-up. Some members of Harvard's team had played in a tournament earlier this season and were forced to sit out of the match due to Ivy rules that allow teams and individual players only 12 dates to play in matches or tournaments during the season.

"Everyone played well," Ben Shachar said. "I am very pleased."

The match was also the debut for one of the Crimson's three heralded freshman. Rishaad Bilimoria started at the number-two spot against Brown and coasted to an impressive, 3-0 victory.

"It was great," Bilimoria said. "I was a little nervous at the beginning, but it felt really good."

The Crimson will next travel to Cornell in two weeks for an important tri-meet with the Big Red and Western Ontario.

Western Ontario is one of the toughest opponents Harvard will face all year.

"We will be looking to peak in two weeks against Western Ontario," Ben Shachar said. "It is a very big match."

The Crimson will then have the winter break to prepare for the rest of its dual meet schedule and ultimately the national championships, which will be held in February at Princeton. Harvard  7 Brown  2