Men’s Squash Hosts Top Squads, Earns One Victory

Predictions for the men’s squash team performance this weekend were about as accurate as Ithaca weather forecasts, as the squad defeated no. 5 University of Pennsylvania (5-4), and fell to no. 7 University of Western Ontario (7-2) on Saturday.
The Red entered its first contest of the weekend against Penn with a No. 9 ranking. senior Mike Gelinas sophomores Chris Sachvie, Steven Peever and Chris Vernick and freshman Will Hartigan won their matches, earning the team its single point victory.
Sachvie and Hartigan were the only players to return to the courts later that day and conquer their Ontario opponents.
“We just kinda flip-flopped the match we thought we were going to win and lose,” Sachvie said.
The physical challenge of two matches contributed to the team’s loss.
“Everyone individually played quite a bit better against Penn and didn’t have as much in them in the afternoon to win again,” Sachvie said. “It was a matter of playing in a second match on Saturday, a lot of people just didn’t have the same speed and stamina.”
Though the men’s fall to Western Ontario was as unexpected as the victory over Penn, the weekend results will likely boost the Red’s ranking three places. The men returned to the courts on Sunday for a 9-0 loss against Princeton, departing the weekend with a 1-1 Ivy record.
On the women’s side, betting on the outcome would have proved more profitable. Penn and Princeton, two of the nation’s top teams, were the heavy favorites for a reason as the Red women dropped both matches 8-1 and 9-0, respectively, over the weekend. Though sophomore Rachel Wagner was the only player to leave the courts victorious on Saturday, the rest of the team delivered strong performances.
“I think we did really well against these teams,” Wagner said. “We got almost twice as many points against both teams as last year,”
Knowing that victory was unlikely enabled the squad to concentrate more on improving their individual game.
“We didn’t focus on the outcome.” Wagner said. “We focused more on the step-by-step, taking each point at a time, and doing our best against them knowing that they are better players. We still had a good time out there,”