Saturday, February 23, 2013

Men’s Quarters of Nationals

Men Defeat Rochester 6-3 in First Round of Nationals

 

In our first outing at the 2013 National Championships, we were able to take down no. 6 seed Rochester.

 

We knew that we would have to be at our best, since were going into the match without our captain and No. 8 Jason Michas out of the lineup. Jason has been a stalwart for us this year, with his only loss coming from his match against Yale where he sustained a hamstring tear in the last regular season match of his career. He was still leading the squad today off the court.

 

Tyler Olson is back! After struggling for much of the year with back and foot issues, Tyler was in fine form tonight. He defeated, Oscar Lopez, a tenacious player from Mexico who previously Nigel in 4 games during their regular season contest.

 

Gary Power had an impressive win over the unflappable Adam “The Dude” Perkiomaki. Gary hit precise length and wore his opponent down in three hard-fought games.

 

Ali played well against the rangy Peruvian, Andres Duany. He was able to make relatively quick work of his quality oppontent, who is the 8th ranked ranked player in college squash.

 

Zeke played strong and was able to shut down the talented ball striking of Mateo Ming. Despite a minor letdown in the third, Zeke’s quickness accross the middle and agressive length put Ming under too much pressure and Zeke was able to pull away at the end of first, second and fourth games.

 

Matty Roberts produced perhaps his best squash of the season. After finding his length in the second, he was able to push the pace dramatically with precise volleying. He finished the match off in 3 workmanlike games.

 

Alex Ma was able to stay comfortably in front of his opponent, Juan Herrera, finishing him off in three games.

 

Nigel, Brandon and Tommy also fought hard but couldn’t find the answers this afternoon. We know they’ll be game and back on their feet tomorrow.

 

The men are in recovery mode: scarfing down dinner, taking ice baths and being treated by our massage therapist, Colleen Carney, who has been generous enough to stay with us in New Haven during the event.

 

The men are thrilled to have another shot at Princeton tomorrow. We’ve been hoping for this since the match at their home courts in January. The match will be played at noon. Check back here tomorrow night for a recap. Good night from New Haven!

 

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