Co-captain Brian O'Toole '12 said the team was surprised that the match was so close.
"It was a little scary," he said. "We did win 5-4, but it wasn't supposed to be that close. We pulled it out in the end though. They fought really hard and since Nick Sisodia ['12] was out with a neck injury, everyone had to move up one spot."
Dartmouth's men went down 3-1 in the first group of matches but soon all nine matches became vital as the team pulled out two wins in the next round to tie the score at 3-3. Fletcher Pease '14 forced his match into five games but his opponent edged him out in the fifth. Luke Lee '12 and Chris Hanson '13 each added a win to the Big Green's total. Each team won an additional match, so as Robbie Maycock '13 stepped onto the court, the score was deadlocked 4-4.
"It was pretty nerve-wracking going down 3-1 really early on and every match was pretty critical after that," co-captain Sisodia said. "The guys kept their cool and had very few unforced errors. In the last match, Robbie went up 2-1 but his opponent was a fighter, a grinder, a real pusher. Robbie played a clinical fourth game and won it 11-5."
The outcome on the women's side was less neck-in-neck than the men's, as they took home a 7-2 victory. Becky Lau '13 fought for four games and Sarah Loucks '13 for three games but neither could rout her opponent. Melina Turk '14 played the only five-game match of the day and topped her opponent in the fifth game. Corey Schafer '13 won in four games and the other five wins each ended in three straight games.
Captain Julia Watson '12 felt Kate Nimmo '14 "totally dominated" her opponent and that the team had the right attitude about the match.
"I was able to watch Kate's whole match and she really impressed me," Watson said. "She played really well and consistently. Melina won a tight match and Corey had a great win, too. We were pretty confident going in but knew it would be a tough match. We can't dismiss any team. We took it seriously, rose to the challenge and were optimistic and focused. We must beat teams like Williams to stay in the top eight."
Watson said she believes the teams were feeling some fatigue coming off last weekend's three matches.
"I think we were tired from last weekend and a little sluggish at first," Watson said. "It is hard to sit on the bus for three hours and then get off and wait around to warm-up. Our coach knows this is a challenge and focuses on a really good warm-up. The scoring in squash goes so fast that you don't want to use the first game as a warm-up and lose control of the match."
O'Toole agreed that the three matches last weekend left the team feeling drained.
"At the end of a three match weekend, you are really hurting," O'Toole said. "With three matches, it takes up every hour of the weekend playing, warming up and eating, so it was nice to have more free time with just the one match."
Next Saturday, the men and women will travel to Hartford, Conn. to take on Trinity College before returning to Hanover on Sunday to face the University of Rochester. Trinity is historically one of the strongest programs in collegiate squash and will pose a big challenge for the Big Green.
"Trinity is really tough," Watson said. "While we can almost predict how the entire match will go, we can't know how the individual games will go. As long as we are improving and focusing, that is what's important.
Sisodia said the teams would have to up their intensity for the match against Trinity.
"Trinity is a much stronger team than Williams, so we will have to play better," Sisodia said. "I think we relaxed too much today. We have a good fitness base, but we have our work in store for us this week in practice so that we can be good to go against them and Rochester next weekend."
O'Toole agreed that Trinity will pose a challenge for the Big Green.
"Trinity is a really fit and very talented team," he said. "They lost this week [to Yale University] for the first time in 14 years. We will push ourselves on the court, but we will focus more on playing a good match than just on winning."
