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Trinity Ends Men's Squash 89-Match Win Streak, 6-3; Women Triumph

If nothing else, Harvard sports fans could always take solace in the knowledge that the Crimson squash teams were the best in the country.

Frankly, the men's and women's squash programs are dynasties, winning national championship after national championship.

However, this season it seems that those halcyon days of dominance may be over.

Last weekend the women's team's 59-match unbeaten streak was halted by Princeton.

This weekend, in an even more surprising turn of events, the top-ranked men's team's awe inspiring 89-match winning streak--lasting over five years--was halted by Trinity College.

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The Bantams--ranked second nationally heading into the match--seemed to dominate the Crimson with a 6-3 victory, including four 3-0 wins.

"They are very strong at every spot," said sophomore Tim Wyant--Harvard's number three player. "They had the crowd behind them. We are a young team and may be were not as prepared, mentally and physically, for the pressure and the level of play as we could have been."

Harvard's women, however, did get back on track this weekend, defeating a strong Trinity squad, 8-1.

The women gave up only one court to All-American Gail Davie, while the rest of the team won handily.

The Crimson got victories from senior Leah Ramella, juniors Stephanie Teaford, Lindsay Wilber, Ilana Eisenstein and Vanessa Hoermann and sophomores Blair Endresen and Maja Byrnes.

The homecourt advantage may have played a big part in Saturday's men's match as the Crimson was not in top form for this important contest.

"I think what put them over the hump was the fact that they seemed to pull together as a team under the pressure," said sophomore Eric Lauer.

"We didn't have that unity on Saturday. It's tough because momentum doesn't work the same way it does in other sports because everyone has an individual battle to win on their own, regardless of the situation."

In those individual battles, Harvard's top players seemed to fare the worst.

Harvard lost four of the first five courts as Wyant earned the Crimson's only win by a score of 3-1 (15-3, 15-13, 9-15, 15-8). Seniors Dan Ezra and Rishaad Bilimoria, Harvard's top two players respectively, were both beaten 3-0.

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