Men's squash earns split on Saturday games

The men's squash team moved to 5-2 on the season after it split a pair of weekend matches against Fordham and Hamilton - the team's only two home matches of the year.

The Jumbos dropped a 5-4 decision to Hamilton on Saturday afternoon, after trouncing Fordham 9-0 earlier in the day.

Sophomores Tom Keidel (7-9, 9-6, 9-5, 9-6) and Spencer Maxwell (9-3, 9-7, 9-5) got the job done at the number one and two positions, respectively, against Hamilton. Keidel felt that focus and composure were keys to his victory.

"I lost the first game but I came back and played well," Keidel said. "I actually got hit in the face by my opponent's racquet in the third game but I came back strong. I worked on being less emotional which helped me keep my focus."

The Jumbos typically relies on their depth to carry it to victory, but were beaten at their own game by Hamilton.

"We knew it would be a close match going in," Keidel said. "We thought we could win two out of the first three matches, which we did. But we were hoping to win numbers five through nine also and we couldn't get it done."

Senior co-captain Jordan Kolasinski fell at number three (8-10, 3-9, 4-9), while sophomore Pranav Tripathi also lost at number four (3-9, 4-9, 5-9). Sophomore Dan Karlin dropped an intense five-game match at number five (9-5, 10-9, 7-9, 4-9, 9-10).

"I thought I played well, but he just adapted really well to my game," Karlin said. "He was sitting on my cross court shots, and I was sitting on his. We were just slugging it out and he came out on top."

Karlin says that he will use his loss as motivation for future matches.

"That was probably the most disapointing match I've ever played, but it was entertaining I guess. I'm just going to learn from it and get motivated for next week," he said.

Senior Alex Busse and senior co-captain Jesse Goldberg lost at the number six and seven positions respectively.

"I just wasn't on," he said. "I just wasn't as focused as I needed to be. I was trying to make shots that I don't normally, and I was playing my opponent's game rather than my own."

Freshman Dave Linz (8-9, 9-4, 3-9, 9-5, 9-1) and sophomore Fernando Kriete (8-9, 9-4, 3-9, 9-5, 9-1) both battled hard and won at the eight and ninth positions respectively.

Keidel hoped the match would be a learning experience for the team.

"We were disappointed, but hopefully we'll learn to play smarter and be more focused," he said.

Coach Dough Eng gave credit to Hamilton for its strong performance.

"Hamilton's on a hot streak right now," Eng said. "We didn't execute our game plan. We needed to hit tight, soft shots and work Hamilton into the corners but we didn't do it."

Tufts fared much better against Fordham, as no Jumbo surrendered a game. Goldberg and Linz did not lose a point in their matches.

The Jumbos will play their next match this weekend at Connecticut College.