The men's squash team's efforts to stay above .500 at the Cornell Round Robin tournament this weekend were futile.
On Saturday, the first day of the tournament, the Jumbos faced off against two College Squash Association nationally ranked teams, beating No. 26 Hobart 8-1 and falling to No. 10 Navy 8-1. Sunday was no easier for the Jumbos as they took on No. 13 Cornell University.
The Jumbos did not meet much success on Sunday against the Big Red, losing 7-2, despite strong showings from freshman John Subranni and junior Kris Leetavorn. Cornell was first of the gate, with junior co-captain Jake Gross and sophomore Chris Delaney falling in the No. 1 and No. 2 spots, respectively.
Tufts' comeback started with Subranni's win over senior Ted Hill, and continued after Leetavorn put away sophomore Andrew McReynolds in three-straight games. But the comeback was only short-lived as sophomore Nelson Schubart fell 3-2 in a long match against junior Mike Gelinas. Cornell never looked back, defeating the remainder of its opponents.
"Although we didn't win, it went better than the Navy match," freshman Scott Leighton said. "I think we played better, but there are some things that we still need to work on."
After coming off a tough 7-2 loss to No. 12 Brown in the middle of last week, the Jumbos stormed into the tournament, taking an early lead against the Hobart Statesmen, with three of their eight wins coming in three-game sweeps.
Leading the Jumbos was Gross who defeated his opponent, Hobart senior Prateek Patni, in three-straight games, 9-6, 9-2, 9-0, from the No. 1 spot. Leighton, playing in the No. 7 spot, had one of the quickest wins of the match, losing only four points in his three game sweep of junior Ned Lanphier, which ended in a 9-1, 9-2, 9-1 win.
"I think that I, personally, played very well," Leighton said. "Overall we played very well and we won by a large margin. It was a good match."
Playing in the No. 2 spot, Delaney overcame a close loss in the first game with three consecutive wins in which he allowed a mere seven points in three games to Statesman sophomore Cale Forgues in his 7-9, 9-2, 9-1, 9-4 win.
Hobart freshman Nick Pearson dealt the Jumbos their only loss of the match. Facing off against Pearson, Subranni, was unable to capitalize on his 1-0 lead, and eventually lost the match 7-9, 9-6, 9-2, 9-5.
"We beat them pretty soundly," coach Doug Eng said. "Although we didn't play exceptionally well, we played solid squash."
Sophomore Chris Martin, playing in his second match since the semester break, battled for five games against freshman Craig Chircop at the No. 9 spot. Martin eventually won the back-and-forth match 8-10, 9-7, 6-9, 9-5, 10-9.
"He's been struggling this year," Eng said. "But he played well."
Later that day, Tufts took on the Naval academy, one of the toughest teams it has faced all season. Gross notched the lone win for the Jumbos, deposing of freshman Nils Mattson in a 9-6, 9-5, 9-3 win.
His teammates didn't have as much luck against the Midshipmen, however. Leetavorn went down 0-2 early against his sophomore opponent, Michael Beautyman, but battled back to blank his opponent in the third game, and beat him again in the fourth. Still, he was unable to win the fifth and deciding game, and lost the match 9-3, 9-7, 0-9, 4-9, 9-2.
Leighton also had a strong showing against his opponent, but was unable to walk away with a win. Playing in the No. 7 spot, Leighton lost the first match against senior Dan Hellier, but won the next two by close margins. He was unable to capitalize on his two-game lead, however, and lost 9-6, 7-9, 6-9, 9-4, 9-4.
"I think I had a very hard match," Leighton said. "They're physically stronger than us and they may be the only team than can outrun us."
"We weren't on top of things," Eng said. "If we played a bad match, we played it against Navy. We needed to beat one of these teams. They know they can lose to us."
Hoping for an outcome similar to their 6-3, and 8-1 wins previously this season over the Jumbos on Nov. 18 and Feb. 3, respectively, the Bates Bobcats will visit the Jumbos at Belmont Hill School tonight.
