M. Squash Defeats Elis for 9th Straight Ivy Title

While most Harvard students were studying on the Cambridge side of the Charles last night, an Ivy League title was being determined on the Boston side.

The Harvard men's squash team (10-1, 6-0 Ivy) soundly defeated its Yale counterpart (15-2, 5-1 Ivy) 9-0 in a match at the Murr Center for its ninth straight Ivy crown. The Crimson dropped just four total games in the match. HARVARD  9 YALE  0

No. 2 Harvard won early and easily over No. 3 Yale with co-captain Tim Wyant cruising to victory at the top slot to put the nail in Yale's coffin.

Wyant beat Nikhil Bhandarc, Yale's captain, in three straight games.

"It feels good," Wyant said. "Yale has improved a lot as a team. They beat Princeton last week and we knew they would be a team to beat."

No. 2 Deepak Abraham, who had played at the top spot for the Crimson until about a week ago, also made quick work of his Yale opponent, winning in three straight games.

Perhaps the most exciting matches were played on the higher-numbered courts.

No. 5 Peter Karlen defeated Yale's Peter Grote 3-1 to extend the Crimson's winning margin.

No. 6 Eric Lauer, a junior, drew a large crowd for the fourth game of his 3-1 victory over the Bulldogs' Christopher Olsen. With both players diving all over the court, the match remained very close throughout.

Freshman David Barry won 3-2 over Yale's Gordy Rogers in a hard-fought match at the eighth slot.

Down two games to start the match, Barry saved two match points in the fifth game to win, despite a controversial interference no-call. That call would have won the match earlier for Barry, but the recovered to win the next point anyway.

The final score in the match was 10-15, 6-15, 15-11, 15-14, 15-13.

"They are a strong team," Wyant said. "They are very deep and their middle and bottom guys are very tough. We didn't think we'd win 9-0."

Harvard's No. 3 and No. 4 players, Grayson Witcher and Andrew Merrill, respectively, both rolled to victories over their Yale opponents, losing no games along the way.

No. 7 Shondip Ghosh and No. 9 Rob Pike also won matches in straight games.

The Ivy Title was not the only reason this match was important.

"The Harvard-Yale rivalry makes it that much more exciting," Wyant said.

Yale was the last team to win the Ivy title other than Harvard, taking it from the Crimson during the 1989-90 season.

The ninth straight Ivy title gives the Crimson its 33rd squash crown since league play began in 1956.

Both the Crimson and the Bulldogs will be in action at the Murr Center for the ISA Team Championships from Feb. 26 to 28.

The tournament, which is the national team championship, will be played in a pool format with the top eight teams (according to the college poll) in the top flight. The last team standing will be crowned the national champion.

Despite the win, the Crimson will still be the No. 2 seed at the tournament, and the Bulldogs will retain the No. 3 seed.

If both team win their first match, they would face each other in the second round.

No. 1 Trinity, which has beaten both Harvard and Yale and has a perfect record, will hold the top seed at the tournament. Trinity beat Yale 9-0 on Jan. 20, and defeated Harvard 8-1 on Feb. 6.

Harvard's single match victory in that contest was the only individual loss for Trinity this year.