Men's squash team enters, exits break on good note

After enduring three consecutive losses, the Tufts men's squash team entered winter recess in fine style by sweeping its two matches on Dec 8 at the Wesleyan Invitational in Middletown, Conn. The wins evened the squad's record at 3-3.

"Our team really stepped up and showed what we're capable of," senior co-captain Nathan Anderson said.

In its second match of the day, Tufts defeated tournament host Wesleyan by a 7-2 margin. The Jumbos shut out their opponents in all but one of their seven individual victories, and displayed their depth as well, winning each of the number four through number nine matches.

Earlier in the day, Tufts beat Saint Lawrence by the same score of 7-2. Freshman Tom Keidel, junior Jordan Kolasinski, and freshman Dan Karlin, the Jumbos' number seven through number nine players, each posted shutout victories. Kolasinski lost only six of 33 points in his match, and four of Tufts' five freshmen earned wins.

Despite the two wins, head coach Doug Eng was still not satisfied with the effort of his team's leaders. Senior Chris Choi and freshman Spencer Maxwell, Tufts' number one and number three players, respectively, each lost one-sided matches to Wesleyan, and Choi also dropped his other match of the day to Saint Lawrence's Drew Constantine. Eng indicated that those defeats were unexpected, especially because some of his top players nearly won their matches in a Nov 24 contest against Bowdoin, one of the nation's top teams.

"If we're almost beating Bowdoin, and then losing to Wesleyan and Saint Lawrence, that's a concern," Eng said. "We probably should have won both of those last two matches 9-0."

Senior co-captain Nathan Anderson, who won each of his matches at the Invitational out of the number two slot, maintained his winning abilities against Wesleyan and Saint Lawrence. Despite the losses at the top, Tufts offered evidence that its depth is great enough to overcome any shortcomings its leaders may have.

"As for the performance at the top of the ladder, it is not of real concern because our team's real strength comes from our depth," Anderson said. "We don't have the

international superstars that some schools, even schools lower in rankings, have at the top of their ladders, so the matches at the top are going to continue to be difficult."

Tufts will compete at the Yale Invitational on Jan 24, and in seven other matches, including a Feb 6 battle against rival MIT, before Nine-Man Nationals begin in late February.

The Jumbos will travel west to Amherst, Mass. for a match against Vassar on Sunday. With the two wins at Wesleyan getting Tufts back to .500 overall, things would seem to be pointing in the right direction _even if Eng was concerned by the fact that the boys at the top of his ladder have had better results against contenders than they have against pretenders.

"It's like the Boston Celtics beating Dallas and Sacramento on the road, and then losing at home to Denver," Eng said.