Harvard Shakes Off Rust, Returns To Winning Ways

It might have taken a trip abroad, but the Crimson has proven that it is back on track.

The No. 6 Harvard men’s squash team traveled to Toronto's Canada National Squash Academy last night to take on No. 8 Western Ontario. Coming off two straight losses—against Cornell and Rochester, respectively—the Crimson squad bounced back in a resounding fashion with an 8-1 win.

Playing for the first time in over a month, Harvard (4-2, 2-1 Ivy) dominated against the Mustangs, picking up the team's first away match of the season. After dropping the first matchup of the night, the Crimson cruised and never looked back on its way to victory.

“It’s a huge win for us,” sophomore Alexander Ma said. “They’re ranked pretty high, and it was a good way to start off the second half of the season on a winning note. We were able to really come together as a team and realize our potential.”

Bruce Burrowes got Western Ontario off to a great start, defeating Harvard junior William Ahmed, but that was the last time the Mustangs tasted victory the rest of the night.

Burrowes won the first set easily, 11-5, but Ahmed took a tight second set, 11-9, to level the match at one set apiece. Ahmed couldn’t carry the momentum he gained from winning the second set forward. He lost the next two sets in similar fashion, 11-7 and 11-6, respectively, to give Western Ontario the early lead of the night.

“We knew going in it was going to be a tough match, but that didn’t really go affect our game plan of crushing them,” captain J. Reed Endresen said.

The highlight of the night came when Crimson senior Richard Hill battled from two sets down against Mustang Brian Hong. Hong controlled the first two sets of the match, giving up only seven points.

In the third and fourth sets, Hill turned the match on its head, taking both sets by identical scores of 11-7 and evening the match at two sets apiece. Hill pulled off what seemed to be the impossible, winning the last three sets to take the match 2-11, 5-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-5.

That wasn’t the only comeback Harvard had under its belt, as the Crimson fought back from a set down in three more of its matches.

Harvard freshman Brandon McLaughlin dropped the longest set of the night, 15-13, to his opponent Ryan Herden but toughed out the next three sets to take the match 13-15, 11-8, 11-8, 11-4.

Scherl pulled out the win in a similar fashion, fighting back from an 11-8 loss in the first, but winning the next three sets in convincing fashion to defeat Adam Engel.

Crimson rookie Thomas Mullaney dropped the first set against Andrew Silvestri, 11-5, but won the next two sets easily. Silvestri posed a bigger challenge in the fourth set, but Mullaney won the last two points to close out the match, 12-10.

“We saw a lot of resilience within our team,” Ma said. “Outlasting the other opponent is a huge part of squash. If you can win the next three sets, after losing the first, hat’s off to you.”

With four comebacks in its pocket, Harvard continued its dominance and never gave Western Ontario a chance, powering past the Mustangs the rest of the night.

Endresen and freshmen Nigel Koh and Gary Power all had straight-set wins over their opponents.

Endresen fought through three tough sets, but in the end, he won the points that mattered, defeating Albert Shoihet 12-10, 11-9, 15-13.

Koh also had to battle past his opponent to secure a point for the Crimson. He came out of the first set victorious against his opponent Yeshale Chetty and then won a pair of sets to take the match.

Fellow freshman Power overcame a challenge from Kimesh Chetty, this time taking down the Mustang much more easily, 11-7, 11-7, 11-2.

After losing its first two matches of the season in early December, the Harvard men’s squash team needed a win to get the squad back on track for the rest of the year. And if the play the team displayed yesterday is any indication of its future performance, this might have been just the match it was looking for.