The men’s squash team cruised to a routine 9-0 victory over MIT on Thursday afternoon, extending its home winning streak to six matches in its last home match of the season. The Cards’ fortunes reversed quickly, though, as they dropped both Saturday matches 0-9 against Amherst College and Williams College at the Little Three Tournament.
After securing two hard-fought wins the week before, the team had little trouble with MIT. The game’s total after the match was a lopsided 27-2 in favor of Wesleyan.
“Against MIT, we were buoyed by a strong and vocal crowd turning out for our last home match,” said co-captain JZ Golden ’08. “It really helped the whole team play focused, determined squash. We just went out there and took care of business.”
Golden’s co-captain, Benjie Messinger-Barnes ’09, took a slightly different approach.
“It’s hard to focus when your opponent’s not that good,” he said with a smile. Ultimately, though, both Golden and Messinger-Barnes were able to lock up 3-0 victories.
This is not to say the match was without struggle. Messinger-Barnes went down three points to one early in his second match. But he quickly won back his serve and rode it to a 9-4 victory that wasn’t as close as it might appear.
Looking to close out the game 3-0, Messinger-Barnes faltered early, going down 5-0 before the home crowd regrouped to cheer him on. Then, with the crowd behind him, he once again rattled off straight points: in this case, all nine, for a decisive 9-5 victory.
Upon further inspection, the games were really never out of Messinger-Barnes’s control.
“You like to control the center,” he said. “Stay there, hit something to the corner, make them run.”
So his opponent, though able to win early points, was actually wearing himself out unnecessarily, while Messinger-Barnes maintained inside position. With that taken care of, the game was well in hand.
Unfortunately, the matches that mattered didn’t fall in the University’s favor. The two 0-9 losses brought the team’s away record over the last eight games to 1-7, a far cry from their dominance at home. In fact, the team won only one game over the weekend, losing a total of 54. Despite this, Golden stays optimistic.
“I’m proud of how the team played,” he said. “We faced strong competition and battled for each and every point.”
Golden looked to the future when reflecting on the hard losses in the Little Three Tournament.
“There’s a chance we’ll run into Amherst at nationals, which means this first meeting was a valuable opportunity to prepare,” he said.
The Nationals, hosted by Harvard University, will take place next weekend. There’s no question that the team will arrive prepared, and with a chance to outshine its .500 record this season, motivation likely won’t be an issue.
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