Tuesday night the men’s squash team went onto Connecticut College’s home courts and did something no other team had managed to do this season. For a time, it looked like the Cardinals would be the first squad to defeat the Camels in their own field house. After two five-set matches went in the host’s favor, however, the Red and Black had to settle for a 5-4 defeat, becoming the first visiting team not to be shut out by the18th ranked Camels.
“I think we came in there thinking it could be a lot worse,” said co-captain Umay Suanda ’05. “Conn. has a really good team and even though we lost at the end of the night, now we know we can compete with the teams up there in the rankings.”
Unlike Wesleyan’s brand new squash facility, the Camels play in a tight, three-court arrangement. Without a glass back wall and a front surface that ricochets the ball off harder than the initial impact, the Conn. College courts forced the Cardinal men to adjust.
“[Their courts] are made of this terrible corkboard; its horrible stuff,” said number-one seed Andy Aylward ’07. “It’s like playing in a closet.”
Despite this handicap, the men were able to win four matches and had two chances to take the overall competition. The first opportunity to close out the match was taken by co-captain Andrew Rozas ’06, playing in the second position. After dropping the first set, Rozas came back to win the second and third frames in tiebreakers. With two chances to polish off his opponent, the Cardinal number two could not convert, dropping the last two sets 6-9, 6-9.
“I was scoring Andrew’s game, and I really was hoping that he could pull it out,” Aylward said.
Instead, the team totals evened at four matches apiece. The last match featured Aylward against the Camel’s number one player. Despite the cramped court and a nagging ankle injury, Aylward was able to snatch the first set 9-7. After dropping the second set, the top Cardinal pulled out a 9-6 result in the third. With only one set necessary for victory, Aylward ran out of heroics, losing 0-9, 1-9 to seal the win for the Camels.
“The match was a heartbreaker for the men’s team,” said coach David Tedeschi. “We were underdogs, ranked nine places behind Conn. in the national rankings, and played exceptionally well to get as close to winning as we did.”
While the narrow defeat dropped Wesleyan to 5-6, the team continues to show improvement.
“Both against Vassar and Conn. College we have shown improvement at the personal level,” Suanda said. “Everyone has been playing well.”
One player who has continued to excel is Evan Lodge ’08 who won his third-seeded match 3-9, 9-3, 9-6, 9-6. The victory improved Lodge’s record to 7-4, tied for the team lead with Suanda. He is also the only freshman on the squad who has not been shut out in any match this season.
Other Cardinal winners on Tuesday included fourth seed Dylan Rau ’06 (9-2, 9-3, 9-7), fifth seed Omair Sarwar ’05 (9-7, 9-10, 9-2, 9-1), and seventh seed Phil Wallach ’05 (9-1, 10-8, 9-7).
Despite losing their matches against Conn. College, Ian Carbone ’06 and Than Chantaralawan ’05 have provided veteran experience at the bottom of the ladder after having spent the last semester away from the team.
After withstanding demoralizing losses at the beginning of the year, the team is enjoying the chance to challenge elite teams.
“Obviously Andy and Andrew were playing good players,” Suanda said. “I saw both games and they played hard. Even though they lost, they were fun matches to watch.”
Next up for the Cards is Saturday’s 10 a.m. match against St. Lawrence University.
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