Youthful Squad Finishes Strong

The Harvard men’s squash team had a strong showing this weekend at the CSA nationals at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

“It went well,” sophomore Colin West said. “There were definitely some guys who had great results.”

The most impressive performance of the weekend came from freshman Richard Hill who took the Malloy Cup, or men’s “B” bracket. In the semifinal round of play, Hill came from behind to beat Yale junior Francis Johnson. Johnson took the first game, 10-8, but Hill rallied back to take the lead, 2-1. Johnson took the fourth match, 9-7, but Hill demolished the Bulldog player, 9-0, in the fifth game to take the match and advance to the final.

Similar to his semifinal match, Hill’s final match was a difficult and strenuous one, facing off against Trinity junior Rushabh Vora. Hill started off strong and took the first game, 9-8, but then Vora rallied back to take the next two games, 9-5 and 9-2. Hill claimed the fourth game, 9-3, and in the match game the freshman edged out his Bantam opponent, 9-7, on his way to the “B” bracket championship.

“It was a great win for him,” junior captain Verdi DiSesa said. “It was a sign of a lot of progress. During that match he was really pushed, but winning gave him confidence, so it was great.”

Because he played the No. 2 seed for the Crimson, Hill could have played at a lower spot in the “A” bracket but instead played No. 2 in the “B” bracket. Placing in the lower bracket put much more pressure on Hill to win.

“In this situation he had a lot of pressure to do well,” West said. “He played very well and stepped it up.”

Defeating a Trinity player was especially sweet due to the fact that during the regular season and the CSA National tournament, Trinity beat Harvard, 9-0, both times.

West also had a good performance in the Potter Cup, or men’s “A” bracket, advancing to the quarterfinals by swiftly beating Trinity freshman Andres Vargas, 3-0. In the quarterfinals, West took on Princeton junior Kimee Wong. West took the first game, 9-2, but after that Wong dominated and took the next three, 2-9, 3-9, 4-9.

Junior Niko Hrdy played the No. 3 seed in the “B” bracket. Hrdy fell in the quarterfinals to Frederick Reid from the University of Rochester.

Throughout the season, Harvard was plagued by inexperience, having graduated six seniors the season before. But even without the help of experience, the team showed great teamwork and camaraderie.

“I thought it was a fantastic season,” DiSesa said. “We really came together as a team. We worked hard and played well even though we hurt by losing last year’s class. We did better than most people thought we would.”

As the Crimson isn’t graduating any of its players at the end of this year, inexperience will be a thing of the past next season.

“We are not graduating a single player,” West said. “We are a team without change, except for recruits. All of our guys are going to be training in the off-season so we will much stronger next season.”

—Staff writer Alison E. Schumer can be reached at schumer@fas.harvard.edu.