Last weekend, the men's squash team sent senior co-captain Colin O'Higgins to Princeton University to compete in the Men's Singles Nationals, where a tough draw against the tournament's number three seed, s sent him home early.
"It was an unlucky draw," O'Higgins said. "I think there were several people on the draw that I could have beaten in the first round." He faced Hobart's top ranked player.
Nevertheless, coach Doug Eng does not look at Colin's 9-6, 9-5, 9-4 loss as a failure.
"In every game, he had a shot," Eng said. "He would play very close but the Hobart player would pull away when he needed to."
O'Higgins then moved on to the consolation tournament, where he once again drew a formidable opponent: the number three player from Bowdoin. And again, O'Higgins made his opponent work for the match but ultimately came up a little short, losing 9-5, 9-5, 9-4.
"When we played last time he beat me pretty handily," O'Higgins said. "This time I played him pretty evenly, it was closer than the score would indicate."
Colin enjoyed representing Tufts at Nationals despite losing both matches. "It was a lot of fun," he said. "I was really excited that I got to go and extend my squash career by a week."
Looking back on the season, Eng explained how the team's promising 4-1 start plummeted to a seemingly mediocre 8-11 finish. "At the beginning of the season we played easier matches," he said. "At the end we had to play teams like Brown and Dartmouth. Playing those teams would be like the Tufts men's basketball team going against Maryland's team. It's not a match you are going to win, but it's a good experience."
Eng, now looking toward next year, feels confident about the potential incoming freshman players. "I think we can do well, because we did some good recruiting," he said. "I think we have enough new players that we may actually have a chance of being better than this year."
However he admits that the team is losing a number of leaders in senior captains Shayan Haque, Neil Pallaver, and O'Higgins.
"Colin was a two-year captain so a lot of leadership will be missed in that," Eng said. "Neil played number one for three years, so in another way he has been a leader." Eng may be able to attain the services of Haque next year, as he is contemplating the position of assistant coach.
Yet even without the guidance of these experienced competitors, Eng has confidence that the team will be in good hands with its returning players.
"We have a solid core of young players," Eng said. "We just have to raise our level of our game next year." Returning juniors Nathan Anderson and Chris Choi will likely be amongst the top players on next year's squad, providing the team with quality leadership.
