Despite Injuries, Crimson Cruises

The Harvard men’s and women’s squash teams continued their early season dominance with convincing 6-3 wins over Dartmouth in Hanover, NH Wednesday evening to remain unbeaten on the season.

Being undefeated heading into December is no new trick for Crimson Squash.

Both the men’s and women’s squad have started at least 4-0 each of the past six seasons.

However, on the shoulders of former heavyweights like individual national champions Siddharth Suchde ’07 and Kyla Grigg ’07, those victories were usually to the tune of 9-0 or 8-1. This season, hampered by injuries to top upperclassmen, and with the women starting six freshmen and the men three, the margin of victory is less important than the fact that both teams have still found ways to register wins.

To coach Satinder Bajwa, these early season warm-ups are an opportunity for his younger players to come of age before the brunt of the season arrives in early 2008.

“The freshmen are stepping up not because of experience, but because they need to,” Bajwa said. “They are beginning to feel the responsibility much earlier and will be a very mature team when it matters [against Trinity, Penn, and Yale].”

Both the men’s and women’s squads next play at home on Saturday at the Barnaby Courts against Cornell, with the start slated for 10 am.

Harvard’s top five flights rallied the Crimson men from an early deficit with convincing 3-0 victories to top the Big Green 6-3 and improve to 3-0 on the year and 2-0 in the Ivy League.

Harvard was paced by freshman J. Reed Endresen at the No. 4 position, who cruised through his match by a score of 9-1, 9-1, 9-1. Junior No. 5 Niko Hardy rolled as well, winning 9-0, 9-2, 9-1 over Mike Lewis. Sophomore Colin West won at the top of lineup, battling past Andrew Bumford with the final tally of 9-5, 9-2, 9-7. Junior Verdi DiSesa and freshman Richard Hill tallied the other two wins.

The Crimson’s top five flights all remained undefeated on the season with the victories.

Despite the ease of the win, it marked the first time in three years that Harvard did not down Dartmouth by a score of 9-0. Nonetheless, Bajwa considers a narrower victory to be more important for team-building than a blowout.

“As coaches we are used to going through these early matches 8-1 or 9-0 that we’re now only winning 6-3,” he said. “As a result, we will be better coaches to coach the team through the tougher matches later in the season.”

On the women’s side, the Crimson was boosted by its underclassmen to propel Harvard to a 6-3 victory that brought its record to 4-0 on the season and 2-0 in league play.

Freshman June Tiong at No. 1 won a 3-0 match by scores of 9-6, 9-8, and 9-6, and classmate Alisha Mashruwala at No. 2 recorded a comfortable 3-1 win to pace the Crimson.

“We played really well and are headed in the right direction,” Tiong said.

The night’s most dominating victories came at the No. 7 and No. 8 spots as freshman Alexandra Zindman won by a score of 9-1, 9-1, 9-5 and sophomore Charlene Neo cruised 9-1, 9-0, 9-2.

Sophomore Sandra Mumanachit and freshman Bethan Williams added the other two wins for the final 6-3 margin.

Harvard was once again without senior and 2007 All-Ivy League selection Supriya Balsekar, who is sidelined with a hip injury.

Tiong and Neo were both also out with injuries during matches against Williams and Brown earlier in the season but were healthy against Dartmouth.

“The most promising thing I have seen is that the team is winning playing at less than full strength,” Bajwa said. “The team is performing above average more so than in past.”

—Staff writer Barrett P. Kenny can be reached at bpkenny@fas.harvard.edu.