The Big Green men's squash team performed up to their seeding over the past weekend, taking eighth place at the Men's College Squash Association Championships.
The weekend began with a Dartmouth loss to defending national champion Trinity on Friday, 9-0. The Bantams were dominant throughout the tourny and made quick work of their Big Green opponents. In fact, co-captain Ryan Donegan '05 proved to be the only Dartmouth player to take so much as a single game, though he ultimately fell 3-1. Trinity would go on to extend its incredible winning streak to a staggering 125 games, defeating Harvard 7-2 in the finals.
Donegan could not be kept down for long, however, posting wins in each of his next two matches. Unfortunately, the Big Green's top player was not enough to help Dartmouth beat Penn or the University of Western Ontario, with Tim Vipond '05 joining Donegan as the only other player to manage a win over the weekend. Vipond had an exciting rally in his fifth game against Penn, rebounding from an 8-2 deficit to defeat his opponent 9-8.
Dartmouth sustained a tough 7-2 loss to Penn on Saturday, preventing the men from moving up in the rankings, and took an 8-1 battering at the hands of UWO on Sunday.
"Unfortunately, Penn came out with a bit more intensity after a tough loss to Princeton on Friday, and we were unable to take advantage of the opportunity to move up the rankings," said Hank Alexander '06. "Sunday's match against Western Ontario was, again, a titanic struggle, but the Canadians proved to be a little too much for us."
Despite disappointment at Nationals, men's squash performed well overall this season. After losing three seniors last year, the team was counted out by many but had some impressive showings throughout the season.
Adam Slutsky '06 summed up the '04-'05 campaign: "The men's squash team performed very well this year. The team was slightly weaker than it was last year, and a number of the guys really stepped it up and improved their game to compensate for the difference.
"Three-time All-American Ryan Donegan beat the previously undisputed national champion at Princeton, and Tim Vipond and [co-captain] Cam Fortin ['05] were responsible for some victories that decided a couple of very close matches for us. Scott Kennedy ['05], in only two years of playing, improved his game enough to play most of the season at No. 8. All of us on the team will miss their experience and guidance."
The team will certainly have a major void at the top position, since Donegan has been an All-American for the past three years. But Coach John Power says that the future should be bright for the program despite the loss of so many, as next year's class already has "five good players accepted."
While the team will certainly miss the leadership of this year's seniors, Donegan certainly feels good about the team of this year and next.
"This year's team was a unique group of guys who worked hard and gave a ton of effort each and every day," Donegan said. "It was a tremendous experience and honor to be captain of this team. I will miss these guys next year, but the team is being left in good hands with Adam Slutsky ['06] and Hank Alexander ['06], not to mention a solid group of '07s."
Though team action is done, this year's squash play will finish over the weekend, as Dartmouth hosts both the men's and women's individual championships.
The men's and women's teams will each send four, with Donegan, Todd Wood '07, Alexander and Adam King '08 representing the men and Julia Drury '06, Avery Eyre '07, Ashley Malenchak '08 and Rebecca Loucks '08 will playing for the women.
The individual championships will begin at 8:00 a.m. on Friday and continue on Saturday and Sunday at the same time. The matches will be held on the upper level of the Berry Sports Center.
