Men's, Women's Squash Hand Penn First Loss of Season

The No. 5 Harvard men’s squash team and No. 1 women’s team started off 2016 with Ivy League play against No. 1 and No. 2 Penn, respectively. The teams returned to the Murr Center after a couple of weeks of rest on Saturday, and both came out strong against their Ivy League rival, picking up identical 6-3 wins.

A winless men’s team (1-1, 1-1 Ivy) struggling to find its rhythm began its five game home stretch against an undefeated Penn (6-1, 0-1), which had had its best start to a season since 1985-6. It looked to bounce back from its season opener loss against Dartmouth in December, the first loss of the kind since 1977.

“We made a lot of tactical and mental changes to our games leading into our match vs. Penn that clearly paid off,” said junior men’s co-captain Devin McLaughlin. “We had better game-plans and were far more mentally tough, and that showed come game day.”

At the No. 1 position, Penn’s sophomore Anders Larsen broke sophomore David Ryan’s undefeated streak, but not without giving up two games in the match. At the No. 2 and No. 3 positions, sophomore Bradley Smith and junior co-captain Bryan Koh both took down their opponents, 3-2.

There were only sweeps in the second flight, with junior Dylan Murray and McLaughlin picking up wins over their opponents in the fifth and sixth positions. This is Murray’s first win of the season, while McLaughlin remains undefeated this season.

It was also sophomore Seif Eleinen’s first win of the season at the No. 8 position, with a 3-1 decision over senior Tyler Odell. Freshman Alexi Gossett earned his first win with the Crimson at the No. 7 position in convincing fashion with a 3-0 sweep over his opponent. In the last position, sophomore Mandela Patrick was unable to best freshman Jonathan Zeitels.

“I was extremely pleased with how our team played this weekend,” McLaughlin said. “We were united, focused, and professional, which were things that weren't necessarily as apparent a few weeks prior.”

The women’s team (3-0, 2-0) had never dropped a New Year opener under head coach Mike Way, but could have faced the possibility of ending the streak as it faced the Quakers (4-1, 0-1)., which is the last team to which Harvard had lost. Coming into the game, Penn was also undefeated, having outscored opponents 107-1 and dropped only one game.

“This is always one of our bigger matches, so there was definitely a lot of excitement around it,” co-captain Isabelle Dowling said. “We felt very confident in our lineup, however, so I think there was more excitement than nervous energy.”

The match at the No. 1 position was a battle of the freshmen breakouts, as Harvard’s Sabrina Sobhy took on Penn’s freshman Reeham Salah. Salah had swept all of her opponents and gave up more than three points only once—that is, until she faced Sobhy, where her Crimson counterpart soundly defeated her 3-1. This is Sobhy’s first win of the season at the first position.

In the second flight, senior Michelle Gemmell and sophomore Sue Ann Yong both defeated their opponents 3-1 at the fifth and sixth positions, respectively, while junior Katherine Tutrone was unable to best Penn’s sophomore Marie Stephan, who swept her.

Junior Dileas MacGowan’s undefeated streak was broken at the hands of senior Haidi Lala, who edged MacGowan out in a hard fought 3-2 battle at the No. 7 position. Freshman Sophie Mehta and co-captain Saumya Karki both easily handled their opponents in the last two positions.

Fellow freshman Kayley Leonard swept her opponent at the No. 2 position. Sophomore Alyssa Mehta rounded out the top flight, and though she won a game against Penn’s senior Yan Xin Tan, she ultimately fell 3-1.

“I thought everyone did a very solid job of executing their game plans,” Dowling said. “Our fitness work over the past couple of weeks definitely paid off.”

With these wins, both Harvard teams handed Penn its first loss of the season.