The top bracket was composed of five Ivy League teams Dartmouth, Princeton, Harvard University, Yale University and Cornell University. Trinity College, Franklin & Marshall College and University of Rochester rounded out the field. The Big Green entered the tournament seeded seventh and backed up its ranking, finishing seventh in the tournament.
Dartmouth coach Hansi Wiens said he felt the team had a great weekend overall and that the level of play evidenced the progress of the squash program.
"I am definitely pleased with how well we finished up," Wiens said. "We really went stroke for stroke with the teams we played. We trained much harder this year than ever before and it is clear we are now closer to the top teams."
Co-captain Nick Sisodia '12 noted that the intensity of the tournament was much greater than that of a regular season match.
"It is definitely a little more intense of an atmosphere during the tournament, especially when so many close teams come together," Sisodia said, adding that the crowds were bigger than the Big Green is used to.
"The courts were at capacity and they stopped letting people in," co-captain Brian O'Toole '12 said. "It was crowded, hot, noisy and tense with other teams winning, losing and going crazy. The atmosphere is draining but it is also really exciting."
In the opening round of matches on Friday, the No. 7 Big Green (10-8, 3-4 Ivy) took on the No. 2 Tigers (15-1, 7-0 Ivy). The hosts soundly defeated Dartmouth, 8-1, the same result as during the regular season in mid-January. However, the regular season contest featured more close matches, two of which went to four games and three to five games.
Sisodia was the lone victor up and down the ladder, topping senior Chris Callis in four games. Sisodia dropped the first game, 7-11, but then ran back the next two games, 11-7 and 11-8, before finishing with a nail biting fourth game that he eventually took, 17-15. When the two battled in January, Callis snagged the win in four.
Chris Hanson '13, Luke Lee '12, Chris Jung '14, Robbie Maycock '13, Fletcher Pease '14, Alex Kurth '13 and O'Toole all fell in three straight games to their respective opponents. Both Hanson and Pease forced their third games into extra points but ultimately fell 12-10 to junior Todd Harrity and sophomore Dylan Ward, respectively. When the two teams faced off last time, O'Toole was the only one to win his match, but he faced a new opponent and fared differently this weekend.
Stephen Wetherill '12 was the only other Big Green player besides Sisodia to take his match to four games. Senior Clay Blackiston snagged the first pair of games, 11-6 and 11-5, but Wetherill rebounded to take the third, 11-8. Wetherill's momentum and success were halted, though, as Blackiston ended the match in the fourth, 11-8. The same matchup in January, which Blackiston also won, went to five games.
Sisodia explained the difficulty of playing the No. 2 team in the opening round and the home court advantage that helped fuel the Tigers' win.
"It was tough because we played the eventual national champions in the first round," Sisodia said. "Princeton is a very strong team and there were good matches, but ultimately they were too strong for us. There was a good amount of people watching and Princeton was able to feed off the home crowd."
In the other first round matches, top seed Trinity topped No. 8 F&M, 8-1, No. 4 Harvard ousted No. 5 Rochester, 6-3, and No. 6 Cornell upset No. 3 Yale, 8-1. While the upset seemed decisive, the match consisted of one five-game match and five four-game battles.
Coming back out onto the courts Saturday, the Big Green took on Ivy foe Yale (15-3, 6-1 Ivy) and fell to the Bulldogs, 6-3. The results mirrored the outcome from last weekend's regular season matchup, and the same three players were victorious for Dartmouth again in the tournament.
At No. 1, Hanson battled junior Kenneth Chan in four close games. Hanson dropped the opening game, 9-11, but rallied back to win the next three, 11-9, 11-2, 11-8. Sisodia handled junior Richard Dodd in three straight games, winning the first, 11-6, and the next two, 11-8, to take the No. 2 match. Kurth defeated freshman Joseph Roberts at No. 8, 11-8, 3-11, 11-2, 11-8.
Lee and his opponent won alternating games to force the match to a fifth game. Senior John Roberts dropped the first game, 4-11, but then won the next two, 11-8 and 12-10. Lee mustered out a key win in the fourth, 11-9, but in the end was edged out, 11-6, in the fifth.
Jung managed to take a game from his opponent Ryan Dowd but was unable to secure a win. Jung won the opening game, 11-8, but Dowd fired back to take the next three games straight, 11-3, 11-3, 11-7.
Pease also won the first game of his match against senior Sam Clayman but succumbed in the next three games. Pease opened the match with a decisive 11-5 win in the first but Clayman responded by pulling out an 18-16 victory in the second and a pair of 11-7 games to seal the match.
Sisodia explained the difficulty in facing the exact same Yale lineup just a week after facing it in the regular season.
"It was a little bit frustrating playing the exact same matchups and ending up with the exact same results, but Hansi told us that we pushed really hard and fought and that it was not our day," Sisodia said. "They were a little fitter than we were too."
Co-captain O'Toole said he felt the team did well and that the match could have gone either way.
"There were a lot of really tough battles, and the guys really pushed hard," O'Toole said. "A couple bounces our way and we could have had it, but it was a great effort."
In the winners bracket, Princeton ousted Cornell, 7-2, and Trinity clinched the win over Harvard, 6-3. Other second round consolation bracket action included Rochester topping F&M, 8-1.
The Big Green finally prevailed on the final day of matches, taking down F&M and clinching seventh place with the 6-3 win. The middle of the ladder was solid for Dartmouth, which notched wins in spots three through six. The other two victories for the Big Green came at No. 1 and No. 8.
Lee's match proved to be a battle as he and Mauricio Sedano split the first four games. Lee was the only Big Green victor to drop the opening game. Sedano took the first, 11-9, but Lee answered back with a 13-11 win in the second. Sedano won by the same margin in the third, but Lee finished him off with 11-8 and 11-9 wins in the last two games.
Five of the other eight matches went into fourth games, with Sisodia dropping his second game, 20-22, to Guilherme De Melo in a game that lasted almost twice the normal length.
Wiens felt the 6-3 win in the tournament was "more comfortable" compared to the 5-4 win in the regular season.
"We knew the lineups to expect coming into the tournament, but we were stronger and not so young as in other years," Wiens said. "We really showed how competitive we can be with the top teams. We are getting stronger every year, and it is showing."
Sisodia echoed Wiens' sentiments, adding that the final match was a great way for the seniors to end their college careers.
"In November, [F&M] gave us a little bit of a scare, so it was nice to beat them comfortably today," Sisodia said. "It was a nice way to end the year at No. 7. We have been No. 7 for the last three years, and it really shows our competitiveness."
Princeton's victory over Trinity made up for its 7-2 regular season loss, as well as the 2009 tournament final that Trinity won. Trinity won the previous 13 tournament titles in one of the most dominating runs in collegiate athletic history.
In the other consolation round match, Yale edged out Rochester, 5-4, to take fifth place, while Harvard narrowly beat Cornell, 5-4, in the third and fourth place match.
O'Toole said that the team entered the tournament hoping to score an upset, but that he was pleased overall with the squad's performance.
"We are really happy with how things turned out," O'Toole said. "We of course would have liked to take out a team ahead of us but being in the top eight in the nation is nothing shabby, so we have nothing to complain about."
Wiens said he was proud of O'Toole and the other seniors who played in their last team match for Dartmouth.
"Our seniors could feel some pride at the end of the weekend," Wiens said. "They showed their leadership and dedication and fought hard all season. They were a great group of role models and the coaches are very proud of them."
The Big Green women will compete in the Howe Cup, the team National Championships, next weekend at Harvard and then select players from both teams will be invited to play in the Individual Championships the following weekend at Amherst College.
