With the winter squash season drawing to a close, the men's squash team sent one player, sophomore Chris Delaney, to CSA Nationals, held at the University of Pennsylvania this weekend.
Delaney, who entered the tournament as the No. 19 seed, went 1-2 on the weekend, finishing the season with a 14-13 individual record.
Playing his first match against sophomore Edward Newhouse of Dartmouth, Delaney hoped to climb into the winners' bracket for the rest of the day. After losing three-straight game 9-6, 9-6, and 9-1, he quickly found himself in the consolation bracket.
"I feel that he could have played tighter, but Chris played very solidly in the first two games," coach Doug Eng said. "I think he got a little frustrated in the last game, but overall, he did play solidly."
Newhouse did not last long after defeating Delaney, however, and was downed by the No. 3 seed, Amherst senior Auloke Mathur, in the next round, 9-6, 1-9, 4-9, 9-4, 9-7.
"I thought that I played alright," Delaney said. "I definitely had a shot to win the first two games."
In the consolation bracket, Delaney played his second match of the tournament against Vassar sophomore Anshuman Beri, beating him in three-straight games 9-4, 9-4, 9-1.
"I was pretty confident that I would be able to beat him," Delaney said. "He's one of the players who got in because he was the No. 1 at a small school."
"It was an easy match for Chris," Eng said. "He put a lot of pressure on his opponent, and he executed his game plan very well."
Delaney then faced-off against No. 6 seed sophomore Bilal Khan of Denison. Despite coming close in all three games, Delaney dropped three-straight in his 9-6, 9-4, 9-7 loss.
"He just took me out of my game," Delaney said. "It was pretty disappointing. I was definitely not happy with my overall performance."
"His last match was tight in the scores, but he couldn't put enough pressure on his opponent," Eng said. "He couldn't get his game plan going."
While middling, Delaney's final season record of 14-13 was a step up from his 9-13 record last season. Despite his improvements and his qualification for the CSA Nationals, Delaney had higher aspirations for the year.
"It has been a pretty disappointing season for me," he said.
Freshman Nils Mattsson of the Naval Academy, the fourth seed in the tournament, defeated opponents from Colby, Penn, Dartmouth and a fellow competitor from his own Naval Academy in his journey to the championship of the Main Bracket. His final match-up against Midshipmen junior Jeffrey Swain was Mattsson's only five-game match.
Despite dropping the first two games, Mattsson staged a comeback, and overcame his teammate 3-9, 6-9, 9-2, 10-8, 9-1 to win the main bracket of the tournament.
Senior Jamie McAvity of St. Lawrence, the eventual winner of the consolation bracket, lost his first match of the tournament against fourth-seeded senior Tyler Kyle from Williams to drop him into the consolation bracket. There, he defeated opponents from Penn, Northwestern, and Denison.
McAvity then faced off against Bowdoin freshman David Funk, who had defeated opponents from Bard, Hamilton, and F&M to earn the other spot in the consolation finals. McAvity and Funk appeared evenly matched, but McAvity gained the upper hand and defeated Funk 9-6, 9-7, 7-9, 9-7.
While Delaney was the lone Tufts competitor present at Penn this weekend, the Jumbos as a team finished the season with a 12-13 record and a No. 18 national ranking from the College Squash Association. Their finish was resembled last year, in which they finished with an 11-12 record and a No. 17 ranking. With a roster full of young players, hopes are high that those numbers will improve next time around.
"Better days are ahead, for me and the team," Delaney said. "Hopefully we'll have a better season next year."
