It's a rare day when the Tufts squash team isn't traveling to a match, but the Jumbos took advantage of their sole home contest of the year, sweeping Fordham 9-0 on Saturday.
The match marked the return of junior co-captain Spencer Maxwell from a semester abroad. Maxwell played at the No. 1 spot and emerged victorious in a tight match 6-9, 7-9, 9-7, 10-9, 9-4.
"When I was abroad, I had been playing some," Maxwell said. "But right when I got back I hadn't been playing enough so my game got a bit lethargic. I was also under the weather a bit, but I'm confident I'll be playing better very soon."
Maxwell started the match in a 0-2 hole, but he fought off his opponent's strong start to notch the victory.
"When my opponent came out, he had a lot of energy," Maxwell said. "It was a matter of time before he faded a bit."
Maxwell will most likely surrender the No. 1 spot for future matches to freshman phenom Jake Gross, who sat out of the Fordham match to prepare for next week. Still, Maxwell will certainly help the Jumbos somewhere near the top of the lineup.
Freshman Nelson Schubart won in three straight games at the No. 2 spot and so did junior Tom Keidel at No. 3. Senior co-captain Fernando Kriete won easily at No. 4. Kriete felt the match gave Tufts an opportunity to put to use some of the things it had been trying in practice.
"The match gave me a chance to work on shot placement and some other things I don't get to work on against some other teams," Kriete said. "Today was very good for our preparation and helping us to get our bodies into good shape."
Sophomore Dave Linz won in three games at No. 5. Linz, a native of Avon, Connecticut, enjoyed the home match because his parents could attend.
"The match went real well," Linz said. "It's certainly fun to have a home match so my parents could get a chance to watch."
As much as the Jumbos enjoyed getting a chance to show off their skills, playing at Cousens means they must play on older, narrow courts. For most matches, the Jumbos play on the wider courts than most teams use.
"It is sort of disappointing because at a great institution like Tufts the facilities aren't really up to par with a lot of other schools," Linz said.
Yet the Jumbos used the narrow courts to their advantage as junior Pranav Tripathi won in three games and sophomore Dominic Wong won in four at the No. 7 spot.
One of the highlights of the match occurred when freshman Cyrus Kharas notched his first career victory in a tight five game match 7-9, 8-10, 9-7, 9-1, 9-7 at the No. 8 spot.
"I only started playing in September," Kharas said. "So it was great to come back from that two-game hole and win."
Kharas was optimistic that his game would continue to improve in the future.
"I need to work on my short game some," he said. "I had it working some today but I'm still a bit inconsistent."
Gross looked on with satisfaction after his fellow freshman celebrated the first victory of his college career.
"Cyrus is definitely the story of this match," Gross said.
Another freshman, Jonah Peppiatt, won in three easy games at No. 9 to give Tufts the sweep.
The Jumbos hope to carry the momentum from Saturday's win into a match on Friday against Brown.
Gross has been anticipating the upcoming match because he will face Dan Peitri, one of the elite squash players in the country.
"Playing against Dan will probably be my toughest match of the season," Gross said. "I've been going over some film and working really hard in practice to prepare."
Assistant coach Gregory Clement, in his first year with the team after graduating from Bowdoin last year, was happy with what he saw.
"The match went well, the team really showed up to play today," Clement said. "Since Spencer was abroad it can be a bit rough coming right back, but he's proven he will be back playing at a top level even if he's a bit shaky at first."
Clement has enjoyed working with the Jumbos in his first coaching experience.
"I see my job as basically doing whatever I can to make everyone play their best and also have fun," Clement said. "I'm so happy to be with the team because we have a lot of great players and great people."
Maxwell also likes what he sees from the team so far since his return.
"We've probably got the best team we've had in 10-15 years because of so many new talented freshmen and our depth," Maxwell said.
