Mixed Results for Men's, Women's Squash Against Conn. Rivals

The third-ranked Harvard men’s squash team will have to wait another year to try its hand in a regular-season contest against No. 1 Trinity College. The Crimson (14-2, 5-1 Ivy) fell, 5-4, at the Murr Center on Tuesday night to the Bantams (15-0), a squad that until last year held a trail of 252 continuous wins, the longest known streak in collegiate varsity sports.

“I think the guys really stepped up tonight and I know that there’s going to be at least a couple that are absolutely gutted because we lost the match, 5-4,” Harvard coach Mike Way said. “As a team, as a group of young men and as coaches, we’re pretty happy with where we are. There was a lot of maturity tonight. We needed to make some tactical adjustments and they made them. That’s why they were in the running.”

Victory was, however, found on the women’s side, as Harvard (12-1, 6-1 Ivy) simultaneously took down Yale (11-4, 4-3 Ivy). The match was previously scheduled to be played on Sunday afternoon but was rescheduled due to weather.

“You beat Yale and everyone’s happy,” Way said. “When it’s Harvard-Yale, it doesn’t matter what sport it is.”

HARVARD 7, YALE 2

In the culmination of its Ancient Eight season, the women’s team was able to sweep four of nine matches, 3-0.

“It was our last dual match of the season and our last home match,” co-captain Sarah Mumanachit said. “We were really looking forward to it, not just because of Harvard-Yale having a big rivalry but also with women’s squash. Our team in the past couple of years has developed a pretty big rivalry with the [Yale] women’s team. It was definitely a really good feeling beating them today. Everyone was excited.”

Mumanachit, who moved a step up the ladder to No. 6, was pushed to five games by her Bulldog opponent, Issey Norman-Ross. The senior fought back in the final set to beat Norman-Ross, 11-4, 11-3, 10-12, 10-12, 11-8.

“I was very impressed by Sarah getting the job done in five,” Way said. “She was up and then the other girl came back so that showed a lot of courage there.”

Sophomore Amanda Sobhy swept 2011 CSA Individual Champion Millie Tomlinson, 3-0, in 11-3, 11-4, 11-2 straight sets. Tomlinson fell three times in the regular season last year, all at the hands of Sobhy.

“Sobhy was just brilliant tonight,” Way said. “She showed her true colors and true strength.”

Freshmen Saumya Karki and Isabelle Dowling, along with co-captain Natasha Kingshott, were the other three Crimson players to blank their Yale foes, playing at the No. 4, No. 9 and No. 5 positions, respectively.

The Harvard squad will have just a short pause before it travels to New Haven for the CSA Team Championships.

“It’s made our jobs a lot easier to have such a great group of girls,” Mumanachit said. “We have a really good team dynamic this season. It’s definitely really sad that today was our last home match and that going into the weekend, it’s our last weekend. Four years goes by so quickly. It’s really amazing.”

TRINITY 5, HARVARD 4

Trinity jumped to an early lead against the Crimson, which found itself down, 3-0, at the end of the first wave. But all was not over for the Harvard team, which rallied during later rotations to eventually tie the match, 4-4.

Playing at No. 7, everything was on the line for senior Zeke Scherl. Bantam freshman Zeyad Elshorafy jumped to an advantage, taking the first two sets, 11-5, 11-7.

Scherl fought back in the third, coming to a 10-9 lead, but Elshorafy won the next three points to take the match for himself and his team.

At the top, the Crimson was able to handle its opponents. Playing at No. 2, junior Brandon McLaughlin battled with Juan Vargas in five sets. The two players swapped wins, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8, 7-11 until McLaughlin finally broke Vargas in the fifth, 11-9.

In the first slot, sophomore Ali Farag defeated senior Reinhold Hergeth in swift 3-0 sets, 11-4, 11-6, 11-5.

“Farag is the Merlin of the squash court,” Way said. “Ali plays at [No.1] and there’s always a little bit of magic happening. You’ve got to love him. He wasn’t severely tested tonight. His opponent was strong, but he’s not really in Ali’s caliber.”

Farag won the individual title last season after defeated then-defending champion Todd Harrity of Princeton.

“He’s got a big test coming up with national team championships and then individuals,“ Way said.

—Staff writer Cordelia F. Mendez can be reached at cordeliamendez@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @CrimsonCordelia