The squash teams ended their respected seasons this past weekend at squash individuals in Amherst, Mass. Senior William Cheng, senior Matt Serediak, junior Rohit Gupta and senior Matt Greenberg were all eliminated on day two of competition this past weekend for the men’s team while sophomore Mairin Barnes and freshman Alex Cornett were the only two to compete for the women. Barnes advanced to the Holleran Division consolation semifinals before eventually falling to the tournament’s second place finisher.
“Everybody improved their ranking or played up to it,” said men’s head coach Mark Devoy. “Willy [Cheng] played to his ranking and everyone played well overall. As a coach, that’s good to see. Hopefully we can get the guys on the All-Ivy team.”
Cheng opened the tournament with a victory over Yale’s Max Samuel, 9-1, 9-4, 9-1. He then ousted Jonathan Barry of Williams in a tough five game match. Despite beating his first two opponents, Cheng eventually ran out of gas and fell to Princeton’s Dent Wilkens. Wilkens went on to win the tournament.
“I can’t say I was happy with the outcome, but I’m satisfied with the way I performed,” Cheng said. “I’m second team All-America again so I’m grateful for that, but I still wish I could have done a little better. Personally, I’m satisfied with how I’ve performed all year long, especially with a full semester of school in the fall. In my career, I’m happy with what I’ve given.”
The two-time All-American Serediak lost a close contest to Kimlee Wong of Princeton in his last action for Cornell, 9-8, 10-8, 5-9, 9-2.
Gupta and Greenberg both won two matches each on Friday in the men’s B bracket, but both dropped matches on Saturday to the eventual finalists.
Gupta, known for his drop shots, started Saturday off with a 3-0 sweep over Brown’s Edward Cerullo, winning 9-5, 9-6, 9-3. He then ran into the No. 3 seed Jacob Himmelrich of Penn. After winning the first game, Gupta couldn’t handle Himmelrich for the rest of the game, losing three consecutive matches by scores of 9-1, 9-5 and 9-7.
“Gupta beat the No. 1 seed and played really well,” Devoy said. “By the time he got to [Himmelrich] he was a little beat up because he has played so many matches. He was kind of unlucky with his draws but he’ll only improve from them.”
Greenberg faced the No. 4 seed Simba Muhwati on Saturday and dropped all three games 9-6, 9-3 and 9-7.
For the women, the team’s No. 1 player, freshman Maxi Prinsen, didn’t travel due to an injury. However, Cornett and Barnes did, experiencing success at times.
“Alex [Cornett] went and won the second round losers consolation,” said women’s head coach Julee Devoy. “She improved her individual ranking and played some awesome squash. She just kept it all together mentally.”
Barnes defeated Hamilton’s Madeline Sullivan in the first consolation match, winning a three game decision by scores of 9-3, 9-2, and 9-1.
She then took down Bowdoin’s Emilie McKenna 9-0, 9-6, and 9-3. Barnes eventually lost a tough match against Middlebury’s Hannah Baker 9-6, 6-9, 9-1, 9-0.
“Mairin [Barnes] played really well,” Devoy said. “She’ll tell you that she didn’t play as well as she wanted to but she still impressed a lot of people.”
Archived article by Tim Kuhls
Sun Assistant Sports Editor