Harvard Women's Squash Remains Unbeaten Against St. Lawrence, Men Drop Match

After the New Year’s high of downing Penn and Princeton, the No. 5 Harvard men’s team (2-2, 2-1 Ivy League) dropped a home game against No. 6 St. Lawrence (6-2, 0-1 Liberty League) Monday at home. Meanwhile, the No. 1 women’s team (5-0, 3-0) continued its sweep streak and won all nine matches against the Saints women’s team (2-8, 0-0).

The men’s team looked to avenge last year’s CSA semifinals loss against a strong opponent in St. Lawrence yesterday. St. Lawrence, coming off a recent loss against Yale, looked to bounce back in its fourth game in six days. Despite the loaded schedule, the Saints were able to pull through and defeat the Crimson, 5-4.

All of the matches were extremely close, with most of the matches being played to more than three games. The top flight of Crimson players all lost, with junior co-captain Bryan Koh and sophomore Bradley Smith dropping their first matches of the season.

Koh dropped the first two games 11-13 to St. Lawrence’s Ahmed Bayoumy at the third position. He forged a comeback with an 11-6 win in the third game, but ultimately lost the fourth game 6-11.

Smith faced Moustafa Bayoumy in the second position. The Smith-Bayoumy matchup was one of three on the day that went to five games. After dropping the first game, Smith rebounded to take the next two games, but fell 8-12 in the fifth game.

In the No. 1 position, sophomore David Ryan was held to just 12 points combined in his 3-0 loss to Amr Khaled Khalifa.

Harvard’s second flight had better luck, with junior co-captain Devin McLaughlin sweeping George Willis 11-3, 12-10, 11-7 at the No. 5 spot. Freshman Alexi Gosset continued his win streak for the Crimson with a 3-1 win in the sixth spot. Junior Dylan Murray lost 3-1 at the No. 4 spot.

Freshman Seif Eleinen and sophomore Mandela Patrick won the Crimson’s other matches, with Eleinen sweeping his opponent in the No. 7 spot, and Patrick besting his opponent in five games in the ninth position. Freshman Jack Cooper was unable to defeat St. Lawrence’s Ness Billimoria, losing 3-2 in the eighth spot.

Meanwhile, the women swept St. Lawrence, 9-0. The team came in with momentum after convincing wins against Ivy opponents last weekend.

“I think we try to play all our matches with the same preparation and intensity.” senior Michelle Gemmell said. “Even though this team is lower ranked I think we've always respected our opponents enough to not take anything less seriously.”

In this win, each Crimson player swept her opponent and held her to under 10 points a game, giving the team a 27-0 game score.

“I thought the entire team played really well as a whole, no one dropped a game,” sophomore Sue Ann Yong said.

There were several firsts for the team yesterday. Sophomore Alyssa Mehta’s victory over Jillian Baker marked her first win in the top position, while juniors Keegan Mendez and Katherine Tutrone, co-captain Saumya Karki and senior Isabelle Dowling also earned their first victories at their respective spots.

Gemmell and juniors Caroline Monrad and Dileas MacGowan all extended their undefeated streaks with their wins at the third, fourth, and seventh, and positions respectively.

After missing last season, senior Alexandra Sperry made her return to the courts in convincing fashion, easily handling Valeria Quan for a 3-0 win at the No. 9 spot.

This win is the Crimson women’s fourth 9-0 sweep of an opponent this season.

“With only a month left in the season, I think our team will come together in the end and hopefully continue the momentum we have built up over the past couple weeks,” Gemmell said. “It's always a really exciting time and I think our team is in a really good place. At this point in the season it's all about staying the same and giving it your all on match day!”

—Staff writer Kaherine H. Scott can be reached at katherinescott@college.harvard.edu.