"The Williams Purple Cows really lived up to their name this past weekend," co-captain Adam King '08 said.
When brackets for the CSA Championships were set, the University of Rochester was ranked at number eight, putting it in the top division in the tournament. Williams, on the other hand, was ranked number nine, and thus placed in the B draw of the championship tournament.
As such, the Williams team could finish with no higher than a final ranking at number nine.
Williams, though not scheduled to face Rochester during the regular season, demanded to play the Yellowjackets in order to move up in rank and play in the top division of the tournament.
"[Williams] finished the regular season ranked ninth nationally, but since the top draw at the end of the year national tournament only includes the top eight teams, the team of Purple Cows and head coach Zafi Levy were not satisfied," King said.
Rochester and Williams played after the CSA decided that the final regular season rankings were too close to determine which teams would end up at the eighth and ninth spots.
While the Ephs had played most of the teams in the top eight, Rochester had only played Dartmouth. The Big Green beat the Yellowjackets 5-4 on Jan. 13.
Williams, however, lost to every top-eight teams it faced in the regular season.
Dartmouth's players and other athletes from around the league suggested that Rochester could not have obtained a worse record even if they had played all the teams ranked ahead of them.
Furthermore, the one differing result between the teams was their respective matches against Bates. Rochester defeated Bates 5-4, while Bates beat Williams 5-4.
"They [did] something that has never been done in college squash before.
They whined and moaned until the College Squash Association finally gave them a chance to play the eighth place team," King said.
Williams defeated Rochester in a close 5-4 battle, successfully entering the A draw.
"This was truly unfair to the Rochester team and their head coach, Martin Heath, who was too nice and honorable to put up much of a logistical fight against the whining of Williams coach Levi," King said.
"This whole situation brings up ethical issues in college sports, and sets a terrible precedent that whining and complaining can make up for shoddy performance throughout the season. Hopefully this scenario will never present itself ever again in college squash, but as long as the Williams team has the same tactless head coach and risks not finishing the season among the top eight teams, I am not overly confident."
Dartmouth wrapped up its season as the eighth team in the nation after losing to Williams 5-4 in the CSA Championships on Feb. 17. During the regular season, the Big Green defeated the Purple Cows 7-2 on their home courts on Wednesday, Jan. 23.
At the CSA Nationals, Trinity defeated Princeton to claim its 10th consecutive national title.
