Still basking in the afterglow of satisfying wins over Cornell, the Dartmouth men's and women's squash teams headed into the past week with some positive momentum for the busiest stretch of the regular season.
Beginning on Thursday, Jan. 29 in Hanover and finishing up in Providence, R.I., on Sunday, Feb. 1, the men and women combined to play 11 matches in four days. The men won five of their six matches, and moved to 11-3 on the season, while the women took four out of five to push their record to 8-3. Dartmouth's only losses over the four-day stretch both came against the Harvard Crimson.
In the afternoon matinee match on Jan. 29, the men's team made quick work of MIT, shutting out the Engineers 9-0. The Big Green played solidly in defeating their weaker opponent, but the day's real entertainment would come when both the men and women faced Harvard in the evening match.
The men had learned earlier in the week that they had moved up the three spots in the national rankings to No. 5. An upset against the third-ranked Crimson was improbable, but the men at least wanted to justify their improved ranking with a strong showing. Also motivating the men were memories of last year's frustrating 9-0 blanking by the Crimson.
The Big Green received solid performances from the top of the lineup, as No. 1 Ryan Donegan '05 defeated Harvard's No. 1, Will Broadbent, easily in three games. Playing at No. 2, Todd Helicopter Wood '07 also picked up a win when his opponent, Siddharth Suchde, was forced to retire after falling behind two games to one.
Unfortunately, the bottom two-thirds of Dartmouth's lineup was not able to match the efforts of Wood and Donegan, and the Crimson swept Dartmouth at positions three through nine on their way to a 7-2 overall victory.
After the match, team guru Hank Alexander '06 said, "Today was frustrating. We had our power strokes working extremely well, but Harvard is a very strong team, and they just wouldn't submit."
The women also had a difficult time with Harvard, falling 6-3. Martha Ucko '05 continued a recent stretch of strong play, winning convincingly at No. 5, while freshmen Heather Lisle and Emily Mackie were able to pull out victories at No. 8 and No. 9, respectively.
Though Dartmouth's deep lineup did pose some problems for the Crimson, Harvard was simply too strong at the top of its lineup. Led by senior Louisa Hall, Harvard's top four players all won 3-0 in games.
After the match, Julia Drury '06 said, "Against the cream of the crop, I think we've showed that we belong. No mercy will be allowed to those who doubt Dartmouth's rightful place in the pantheon of squash dynamos."
Following Thursday's action, the men and women headed to Maine for matches on Friday against Bates, and on Saturday against Colby and Bowdoin. Both squads expected fairly easy victories in all three matches, but were careful not to look ahead to Sunday's meeting with Brown.
Responding to feverish exhortations from Assistant Coach David Heath, both teams exhibited stellar focus, dismantling the three Maine colleges without conceding a single game.
The whirlwind weekend concluded Sunday in Rhode Island. The men and women's squads enjoyed a succulent Saturday night dinner at the Providence home of team spiritual leader Adam Slutsky '06.
The following day, both Big Green teams lit into the Brown Bears with savage ferocity. The men whitewashed the Bears 9-0, conceding only two games in the process. The Brown women put up a better fight, but ultimately succumbed 6-3. Once again, Dartmouth's depth proved key, as the women swept matches at the four through eight positions.
Both teams return to action at home this coming weekend with key matches against Ivy League foes Princeton and Penn. The men's match with Princeton on Feb. 7 promises to be particularly exciting, as the Tigers enter play ranked fourth nationally.
