Men's squash evens record at 7-7 with 8-1 win over Conn. College

The men's squash team finished its regular season Saturday with a win at Harvard over Connecticut College. The 8-1 victory sends the Jumbos into Nationals with a 7-7 record.

In the wake of the victory, coach Doug Eng could not help but recount his team's two close 5-4 losses against Stanford on Nov 23 and MIT last Thursday.

"We would have loved to beat MIT and Stanford, and be 9-5." Eng said "But this is pretty much where we want to be [going into the postseason]."

Against the Camels, senior co-captain Chris Choi came back from a 2-1 deficit to pick up his second victory of the year with a 3-2 win at the number one spot.

"Choi played the best match I've ever seen him play, probably the best match of his college career," junior Jordan Kolasinski said.

Tufts' number two, senior co-captain Nathan Anderson got his seventh win in a 3-0 victory, while Conn. College junior Jeff Carter defeated Tufts' Derek Lee 3-0 in the number three match.

Four freshmen _ Spencer Maxwell, Tom Keidel, Pranav Tripathi, and Dan Karlin _ won the numbers four, five, six, and eight matches respectively. The four surrendered only one set between them and won by a combined total of 12 sets to one.

Maxwell gave up only four points in his straight set win over Conn. College senior Mike Hennon. At Tufts' number seven spot, Kolasinski won in straight sets to earn his ninth win this season, tied for most on the team with Keidel. Senior Jon Wallace followed suit at the ninth spot with a 3-0 win to finish out the Tufts rout.

The squash team also saw action last Thursday, when it dropped a close 5-4 match at nearby MIT. Senior Nathan Anderson, Keidel, and Kolasinski won in straight sets at the two, four, and seven spots and junior Jesse Goldberg won a 3-1 match for the Jumbos in the number nine match. While Jumbos Choi, Maxwell, Lee and Karlin were all beaten in straight sets, Tripathi took MIT's Nadeem Mazen to five sets in a close match that almost gave Tufts the victory.

The tightly contested match was a tough loss for the team as it dropped the squad to 6-7 at the time..

"[The MIT match] was completely within our reach, we should have had it," Kolasinski said. "It was the most disappointing loss of the season."

The loss dropped the team from a probable 18th overall national ranking to 20th; the same spot Tufts finished in the last two seasons.

Tufts begins its postseason play Friday, Feb. 21 in the Nine-man National Tournament. The Jumbos are seeded fourth in their bracket, and will open against Stanford. Pending a victory, the team will face either Franklin and Marshall or Navy in the semifinals. Eng believes a possible semifinal birth, which will take place on Saturday, Feb 22 will be difficult no matter who the opponent.

Eng stressed that the most important match is the next against Stanford and that the team will be taking Nationals "one match at a time."