The men's squash team traveled to Providence, R.I. Wednesday hoping to remain above .500. Although the No. 14 Jumbos fell 7-2 to the No. 11 Brown Bears, they managed to put up a good fight against a strong Div. I program.
Junior co-captain Jake Gross started out strong at the No. 1 seed, taking the first game in convincing fashion, 9-1. From there, the two top seeds swapped games before Brown senior Daniel Petrie squeaked out the last two games to take a narrow 1-9, 10-8, 9-10, 10-8, 9-7 victory.
Tufts benefited from two nail-biter victories from freshmen at the No. 6 and 7 seeds. Freshman Scott Leighton moved up a spot on the ladder to compete as the No. 6 seed and made the most of it by erasing a two-match losing streak with a comeback five-game win. Leighton was down two games to one before he went on a convincing run to win the last two games and clinch the match 9-4, 6-9, 1-9, 9-2, 9-3. Leighton's victory brings his personal record to 10 wins and seven losses on the season.
Freshman Max Dalury, competing at No. 7 for Tufts, battled in five games to defeat Bear sophomore Jacob Winkler. Dalury started off with good patience and excellent counters, taking the first two games, but Winkler came back to win the next two to tie the match. Having lost the momentum, Dalury recovered and took the match 9-2, 9-7, 7-9, 0-9, 9-5.
Other than the two solid freshman performances, the Jumbos came out flat against their Ivy League foes. Five of the Bears' seven wins were in straight sets, as the Jumbos failed to find their rhythm. The X-factor in the match might have been the absence of the Jumbos' usual No. 2 seed, sophomore Chris Delaney.
"It was a big factor that Chris was out," Gross said. "We thought we could probably get a win at the two spot."
The loss drops the team to .500 on the season, but there are still high hopes for the squad's remaining matches. The Jumbos will play a handful of similarly-ranked teams and hope to pull out at least one victory against these tough opponents.
This season, the Tufts squad has come close to knocking off talented teams such as Hamilton, Bates, and Bowdoin, all ranked in the top 20. Despite the narrow 5-4 loss on Feb. 4 to No. 17 Bowdoin, there is still plenty of time for Tufts to pull off some big wins and make its presence known in the postseason.
This weekend the Jumbos will travel to Cornell for the school's annual Round Robin tournament. Tufts will face three worthy opponents, starting off tomorrow's doubleheader with a dual match against the No. 26 Hobart Statesmen.
Later that afternoon, the Jumbos will battle an athletic and tough Navy team. The No. 9-ranked Midshipmen have steadily climbed the ladder and dominated many schools this season, racking up 10 perfect 9-0 sweeps. The Jumbos will be looking to snap the five-game winning streak that Navy carries into the weekend.
After a mediocre weekend at the NESCAC Tournament in Hartford Feb. 2-4, coach Doug Eng is looking for various improvements on Saturday and Sunday. He is primarily concerned with three things: better court awareness, higher quality drives and reduced errors.
"They are becoming much better warriors on the court," Eng said of his players. "[However], we tend to play too textbook and need to go for something different."
Eng wants his players to attack their opponents and apply more pressure. At the same time, he is looking for the team to continue its trend of committing few errors, giving control to the opponent as little as possible.
Leadership on and off the court will be important for Tufts as the season winds down, and Eng will look to his co-captains, Gross and senior Dan Karlin, to set an example for the team.
"[The captains] have done a great job all year," Eng said. "Jake's superior skill on the court has been a good model for other players."
But Eng is also looking for wins from the eighth and ninth seeds. Sophomore Josh Levinson, who has been playing at No. 9 in recent matches, has had some close results lately, including a five-game marathon against Bates on Saturday.
On the bottom half of the ladder, the Jumbos have been a bit shaky, but Eng looks for them to play well and net some key wins tomorrow. He also expects to see Delaney regain his form, as he has not put forth his best squash in the last three matches.
As a team, the Jumbos will certainly be looking for a victory over the weekend to get back on the winning track after losing three of their last four matches.
"We are looking forward to the weekend," Gross said. "We are hoping to take at least two out of three."
