M. Squash Readies for USSRAs

Ranked No. 2 in the country, the Harvard men’s squash team looks to make a splash on the national scene when it travels to Trinity College this weekend to compete in the United States Squash Racquets Association (USSRA) Five-Man Team Championships.

The USSRAs features the nation’s top amateurs, professionals and regional teams in addition to top colleges.

Harvard won the tournament two years ago and finished sixth and seventh with the two teams it entered last year. Going into the tournament, the Crimson expects to be seeded between No. 5 and No. 10 in the 16-team field.

“We’re going in looking to win the tournament, but it would be very challenging to do that,” said co-captain Pete Karlen, who is the team’s No. 1 player. “We’ll have to play some good squash, but we’re ready to do that.”

Two teams in particular are of interest for the Harvard team. The Crimson’s arch-nemesis, host and No. 1 Trinity, will have several teams competing.

“I’m looking forward to playing the Trinity guys,” Karlen said. “They have a lot of good players and new guys, and we’ll get to finally face them after hearing a lot about them.”

Additionally, the Crimson could face an all-star team from the Harvard Club of New York. With former co-captains Daniel Ezra ’98—national champion and three-time finalist—and Tim Wyant ’00 playing on the same squad, their level of professional competition will be a force to reckon with.

The USSRAs are different from collegiate tournaments in that the teams are composed of just five players, instead of the usual nine. Harvard is entering three teams, with the strongest one made up of the top five players on the team.

Karlen, who is also ranked sixth in the nation, has experience competing at the level of professionals and graduates that the Crimson will face. Harvard’s junior No. 3 Dylan Patterson, who trained with the Finnish National Team over the summer, and No. 2 James Bullock do as well.

The second and third teams will be a mix of the remaining players in the Crimson’s top 15.

One weakness for Harvard this weekend may lie in the fact that it thrives on a deep lineup that features high-caliber players at its top nine positions. With five-man teams, the Crimson’s depth will be compromised.

“Though we won two years ago, we haven’t done as well because our top five haven’t been as strong as another top five, while our top nine is usually stronger than another college’s top nine,” said co-captain David Barry, who played No. 7 in the Crimson’s trouncing of Cornell last weekend.

The current Harvard squad is dominating its competition early in the season. Yet to drop a single game, the men have torched Brown and then Cornell in consecutive 9-0 victories to open its season.

Crediting individual meetings with the coaching staff and thrice-weekly yoga sessions, the Crimson enters the weekend physically fit and injury-free.

“Usually we’re bogged down by injuries, but we’re 100 percent healthy,” Karlen said. “The individual sessions with the coaches have been helpful in answering our needs as players by working on our strengths and weaknesses as individuals.”

Even more motivation for the Crimson is the ladder-shuffling that has occurred already this season. With the coaches moving players into different spots between the Brown and Cornell matches, teammates have been jockeying for position among themselves.

“It’s always good to have competition among the team,” Karlen said. “It makes people focus a lot more and motivates us.”

Charging into competition this weekend, the Crimson remains optimistic about its chances for the tournament championship as it tests the national waters for the first time this season.

“You never know what’s going to happen,” Barry said. “We’re training hard and we’re certainly fitter than anyone else out there. There should be some great matches.”