A season filled with great hope and far-reaching expectations got off to a dubious start Wednesday as the Dartmouth men's squash team was handily beaten by visiting Williams College 9-0. Coming into the match driven by the excitement of a successful intra-squad tournament, the Big Green left the courts shocked and disappointed.
"We expected too much too soon," Jesse Nisselson '04 said, commenting on the team's sullen attitude. "We needed to have come in more focused. Jesse should have been more focused."
While Nisselson was swept three games to none, fellow freshman, Chris O'Connell suffered a much more heartbreaking loss in the No.7 match. He fell to William's Dave Morris 17-16 in a tiebreaker.
"It's always hard to lose such a competitive match in five games," said O'Connell, "but it is even harder when the entire team does poorly."
With the return of Hamed Anvari '02, Billy Reisner '02 and Ross Johnson '02 from their off terms, the team could use some time to gel together. However, they must regain their competitive fire rather quickly, as they square off against Cornell, Dennison and St. Lawrence over the weekend.
The women fared much better than the men, beating Williams five games to four. With strong play by Crosby Hanes '04 and Charlotte Haldeman '03, the team fought of a late surge by Williams and showed that they are ready to compete with the elite of the country.
Haynes made the difference with a (9-10), 2, 4, 6 win over Williams' Johanna Kolodny in the No. 5 match. Lindsey Bishop '01, Sara Connoly '01 and Farrar Evans '03 also gave the Big Green wins.
Damon Grant '04 liked what she saw out on the court.
"We came out strong, played our type of game, and came away with a win," Grant said. "For such tough competition we performed extremely well."
The women, who improved to 4-0 with the win, travel to Cornell and St. Lawrence this weekend.
