M. Squash Sent Packing for Another Year

For the No. 2 Harvard men’s squash team, the ambitious dreams of national championships will once again have to wait until next year.

This was the year that the Crimson hoped to reclaim its perch atop the top of collegiate squash—both as a team and with individual accolades. But a week after No. 1 Trinity beat Harvard, 7-2, to end any dreams the Crimson had of knocking off the Bantams for the first time in nearly seven years, Harvard’s disappointment only grew at the CSA Individual Championships held at Dartmouth.

Coming into the tournament, the Crimson seemed to have a number of players who could make a run at a national title. Junior intercollegiate No. 6 Will Broadbent made it to the finals last year, sophomores No. 4 Siddharth Suchde and No. 10 Ilan Oren had both played well this year, and senior No. 8 Michael Blumberg had perhaps been the Crimson’s most consistent contributor all season.

But the high hopes slowly faded away as the tournament went along. Suchde made it the farthest of any Harvard player, losing in the semifinals to three-time defending champion and No. 1 Yasser El-Halaby, of Princeton, in four games.

Suchde took the first game from Halaby before stumbling through the next three.

Even with the disappointing loss in the semifinals, Suchde get some revenge by beating No. 5 Reggie Schonborn, of Trinity, in the quarterfinals.

In five grueling games, Suchde outlasted Schonborn, who had dealt crucial blows to Harvard in the teams’ two meetings this season.

“It felt good, but I think it cost me in the next match,” Suchde said of his tough victory over Schonborn and then his loss, four hours later, to El-Halaby. “[Schonborn] played really well. He’s a senior, and it was his last match. He played hard.”

For the rest of the Crimson, the long season seemed to have taken a toll. Broadbent—who felt strong heading into the tournament although he had been hampered by a hip injury for much of the season—couldn’t match his run to the finals from a year ago, and he fell in the quarterfinals to Bernardo Samper of Trinity.

“I really felt I was going to make a run at the [title],” Broadbent said. “But Bernardo played well. He took me out of the match early on.”

The loss marked the end of a frustrating junior campaign for Broadbent, who battled injuries all year long.

“I wasn’t in the form I was in last year at this time, and that’s mostly due to physical ailments,” he said.

Elsewhere, Blumberg ended his collegiate career by losing in the second round to No. 9 Shaun Johnstone, of Trinity. The senior had beaten Johnstone just a week earlier in the CSA Team Championships, but this time Johnstone got the best of Blumberg in four games.

Blumberg’s final contest proved a slight down note after a magnificent senior season. The senior was the only Crimson player to beat the Bantams in both of the teams’ matches, disposing Yvain Badan on Feb. 3 and Johnstone on Feb. 27.

Oren, who had enjoyed a similarly strong year for Harvard, also fell in the second round.

After taking the first game against No. 7 Ryan Donegan of Dartmouth, Oren dropped the next three straight to lose the match.

“It’s disappointing that we didn’t have a Harvard guy in the final,” Broadbent said. “But we all had good years...We have four guys in the top-ten in college squash which is pretty remarkable...even Trinity doesn’t have that.”

—Staff writer David H. Stearns can be reached at stearns@fas.harvard.edu.