The top seeded Dartmouth men's squash team defeated Brown 8-1 on Friday in the cup's opening match. Hosted this year by Yale University, the cup features teams ranked ninth through 16th in the country. The Big Green avenged a 6-3 senior day loss to the Bears (8-12, 1-6 Ivy), and snapped a two-game losing streak with its victory in the opening match. The Big Green was forced to forfeit six matches when it played Brown on Feb. 10 after six players admitted to misconduct in violation of the team's rules.
For the first time all season, each Dartmouth competitor who won his match did so with a commanding 3-0 score on Friday. Chris Hanson '13, Chris Jung '14, Alexander Greer '16, Kyle Martino '16, Alex Kurth '13, Fletcher Pease '14, Mark Funk '15 and James Fisch '16 notched perfect 3-0 triumphs over their Brown opponents. Captain Robbie Maycock '13 was forced to sit out the first match due to an ankle injury, but Fisch stepped in with a dominating performance against Brown's Alexander Hsu.
"I was really pleased about how our team really stepped up and pulled off a commanding win," Maycock said in reference to Fisch's strong play.
Dartmouth returned to the courts for the semifinals on Saturday but fell to Western Ontario in a brutally close 5-4 match.
"It was a little disappointing because we were the number one seed," Jung said. "None of the teams that we played against this season had played them in the regular season, so we really didn't know what to expect."
Hanson, Martino and Funk each won their respective matches 3-0. Michael Mistras '15 also won a grinder of a match 3-2, but the Big Green could not pull off the victory. This upset placed Dartmouth in the third place match on Sunday against Ivy League rival Columbia (8-10, 2-5 Ivy).
"The loss against Western Ontario was unfortunate but you have to give them credit," Hanson said. "They just played better that day."
Dartmouth capped off the season with a 7-2 victory over Columbia to take third place in the tournament. Martino, Kurth, Pease and Funk each won without dropping a game, while Mistras secured a 3-1 win. Neither Martino nor Funk dropped a single game the entire weekend. Maycock and Greer each won hard fought 3-2 matches for the Big Green.
"We really wanted to go out on a high note in our last match," Maycock said. "It was definitely nice to beat them more convincingly than we did at the beginning of the season."
While Dartmouth was pleased to end the season with a win, the team was disappointed about its end of the season ranking.
"It was a bit disappointing to not be in the top eight because that was our minimum goal," Maycock said. "To miss out on that was tough to swallow because I really think that we deserved to be in the A division and I feel that we could beat any team on any given day."
Hanson was honored after his final team match with the Skillman Award, which is handed out annually to a senior men's squash player who has demonstrated outstanding sportsmanship throughout his collegiate career.
"It has meant everything to me," Hanson said. "I have made so many great friends through squash. I've been able to play under a fantastic coach all four years and this couldn't have been a better experience for me."
This was also the last team match for Maycock and Kurth, who will both graduate in the spring.
"This was an absolutely unbelievable and fantastic opportunity to play for this college," Maycock said. "I don't think that there are many schools with as high caliber of a coach as ours and I am so happy to have played for him."
Some of the Dartmouth players now turn their attention to this weekend's Individual Championships.
"I'm just excited to play a couple more matches," Jung said. "It will be a great chance to play with the seniors one more time and I look forward to playing with some of the top players in the country."
