The Dartmouth men's squash team fell in its final match at the College Squash Association Championships in a heartbreaking 5-4 loss to Williams. With the loss, the Big Green finished in eighth place in the CSA after losing all three of its matches at the championships.
Although the Big Green (13-5, 2-4 Ivy) beat Williams in the regular season, the team -- mired in injuries and sickness -- was unable to prevail against the Ephs at the tournament.
"All the matches were competitive last time and even though we came out 7-2, we had a bunch of tight ones that we won," co-captain Ted Newhouse '09 said. "The ball just didn't roll our way this time."
Williams qualified for the tournament as a play-in seed and finishes the season as the No.7-ranked team.
Newhouse and Michael Shrubb '10, the No. 2 and No. 5 players on the Dartmouth ladder, respectively, won their matches easily in three games.
In the No. 1 spot, Andrew Boumford '09 won his match in four games, losing his second game before coming back strong in the last two and winning his final game by a close 10-9.
Tyler Young '09, at the No. 8 spot, rebounded from a two-game deficit to win his final three games with scores of 9-5, 9-4 and 9-2.
"Shrubb actually played phenomenally well, and Tyler had a huge come-from-behind victory," Newhouse said.
Co-captain Adam King '08 and Ted Schroeder '11, playing at No. 3 and No. 9, both lost in five games.
While the weekend was somewhat disappointing for the team, Newhouse stressed that the results do not represent the team's performance this season.
"I still stick to the fact that we have a great team and it's by far been the best season that I've been a part of," Newhouse said.
While the team ultimately finished with the final ranking as last season, the finish is notable, according to Newhouse, due to the heightened level of play this season.
"There's definitely a lot more parity this season than there has been my prior two years," he said. "We still managed to come out in the top eight, which is always our goal, and it was a lot harder to do this year than any other year. So even though the season kind of ended up on a sour note, I'm still very happy with how our team played, and I'm proud of all of them."
The match was the final team match for King, the only senior on the squad.
"We're all extremely sad to see our fearless leader and our lone senior Adam King leave. He has been one of the best teammates I have had," Newhouse said.
Boumford, Newhouse and King will travel to the CSA Individual Championships in Annapolis, Ind., in two weeks to battle among the top 64 men in the country. The matches will be played for individual honors and have no bearing on the team's record for the season.
