M. Squash Sweeps Ivy Foe Dartmouth

For the Harvard men’s squash team, just a little real competition right now wouldn’t hurt. For the third time in three contests this season, the No. 2 Crimson dispatched its opponent easily, shutting out No. 6 Dartmouth 9-0. Harvard (3-0, 2-0 Ivy) has only dropped one game thus far en route to its perfect record.

Not that this dominance surprises anyone. Expected to run away with another Ivy title and poised to make a serious run at the National Championship, Harvard’s early season matches against inferior squads are little more than a formality and a chance to practice.

“I look at these matches as a way to define team chemistry,” said junior Will Broadbent about the team’s early season blowouts. “This year we’ve really been able to take every match seriously. It really shows our maturity.”

The top of the ladder for the Crimson figures to be the strongest in college squash. With four players ranked in the top 10 in the country, and two in the top four, few teams will be able to counter Harvard’s strength.

“I don’t think anyone even comes close to us,” said Broadbent of the Crimson’s dominating top four.

Playing at No. 1 yesterday was intercollegiate No. 4 sophomore Siddharth Suchde. Suchde, who burst onto the scene last year and won national honors as freshman of the year, had little difficulty against the Big Green’s premier player, intercollegiate No. 8 Ryan Donegan. With the same consistent play that made him one of the most feared players in the country a year ago, Suchde beat Donegan in three straight games.

“I feel a lot more mature this year,” Suchde said, “just being the second year you know a lot more what the coaches expect and how to prepare.”

The rest of the top of the ladder for Harvard fared equally as well. At No. 3, intercollegiate No. 2 Broadbent had no problem winning his match in three straight games. Still recovering from a knee injury that hampered him through much of the fall, Broadbent is just now beginning to reclaim the form that got him to the Individual Championship finals last season. Once healthy, he will no doubt challenge Suchde for the top spot on the Crimson’s ladder.

Sophomore Intercollegiate No. 9 Ilan Oren playing at No. 2 and senior intercollegiate No. 7 Mike Blumberg playing at No. 3, both followed suit and won their matches in three straight games.

The only player for the Crimson to drop a game was sophomore Mihir Sheth who needed four games to take his match at the No. 7 position.

However, even with losing its first game of the season, Harvard is exactly where it wants to be as it gears up for tougher competition after the new year.

“It’s hard to predict how the season is going to go,” captain Asher Hochberg said. “But our team is really playing strong. We want to head into January and February with a lot of energy.”

—Staff writer David H. Stearns can be reached at stearns@fas.harvard.edu.