While the word "threatened" usually does not appear in an article about the Harvard men's squash team, the Crimson did endure a scare at the hands of Trinity this past Friday. In what was the wildest squash match of the year, Harvard held on to win 7-2.
"It was the loudest, most packed match that I have seen since I have been here," said senior Joel Kirsch.
Although the score seems to indicate that the Crimson dominated the contest, many of the matches were close and the outcome could have easily gone the other way.
"This was not a one-sided match at all," junior Daniel Ezra said.
Following the loss of four of its top ten players to graduation, the Crimson has lacked depth all season. This, combined with the chance of breaking its winning streak of more than seventy-five matches, led to a high level of anxiety for the Crimson players.
"We really felt a lot of pressure going into this match," Kirsch said. "Trinity is one of our most competitive matches and they have improved a lot since last year."
However, despite the pressure, Harvard won each of its matches at the top six spots. Ezra, Kirsch and junior Rishaad Bilimoria all won 3-1 at the number one, two and three spots respectively.
But none of the matches was won easily. Kirsch's match took an especially difficult turn when he sprained his ankle less than half way into it.
Kirsch was winning 1-0 when he hurt his ankle. He then held on to win, despite his restricted mobility.
"There were so many people there and so much pressure that I was able to carry-on," Kirsch said. "I didn't want to let everyone down."
Now past Trinity, Harvard's regular season is nearing its conclusion. The Crimson faces Amherst today in what should prove to be the last significant hurdle of the regular season.
Although it faces Yale next week, Amherst is the only team remaining on Harvard's regular season schedule that should pose a serious threat to the Crimson's championship hopes.
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