During the course of a season a team is destined to hit its ups and downs. Today the Dartmouth men's squash team can only hope that the downs are behind them.
Coming off an embarrassing 9-0 loss to Williams College, the Big Green traveled to Ithaca, N.Y. to participate in Cornell's annual squash tournament. In need of confidence and a win, the Big Green got neither, losing all three of the matches they played.
The weekend started against an eager Cornell squad, which routed the Big Green 7-2. The few bright spots in the Ivy League opener came from the play of Chris O'Connell '04 and Hamed Anvari '02, who both won their matches 3-2.
The weekend's uninspired play continued as Denison defeated the Big Green 7-2. Wins by Andrei Prokopiw '04 and James Judah '02 were all the Big Green could muster.
Desperate to get on the winning track, Dartmouth then took on a relatively unknown University of Western Ontario team. Downtrodden after their previous two losses, the Big Green came out flat, and received a 9-0 beating.
Jesse Nisselson '04 summarized the team's depleted emotions saying, "Perhaps the only thing that beat us was ourselves. We played like a chicken with its head cut off, running around with energy, but with no direction, [and] little intelligence."
While the men continued to struggle, the women suffered their first loss of the season 5-4 against host Cornell.
With the score tied at 4-4 the match rested on the shoulders of Charlotte Haldeman '03. In an epic five game match, Haldeman came up just short, losing 3-2.
Although the Big Green did not end up victorious, they came away feeling good about their competitive fire and ability to compete. Shutout wins by Lindsey Bishop '01, Farrar Evans '03 and Beth Vadasdi '03, and a 3-1 win by Emily Turner '03, proved that the Big Green will be a force in the Ivy League throughout the season.
The men's and women's squads host Amherst tomorrow with the men starting things off at 5 p.m. and the women competing in the nightcap at 7 p.m.
