Both teams credit extensive fitness training and individual meetings with Harvard Coach Satinder Bajwa as the main reasons for the early success.

“We trained much harder than them,” co-captain David Barry said. “Coach Bajwa prepared us much better with work not only in fitness but also in breaking down our strokes. We became more efficient as a result.”

With such preparation, the Crimson entered the match against the Big Red with confidence.

“A couple of us had a tough time getting focused early, and we had some tight games in the beginning,” Barry said. “As we regained our focus and played more simple squash, we came out as the better team.”

With the victory over the Big Red, the Crimson is rolling into the USSRA five-man teams championships next weekend, where it will face top competition, including No. 1 Trinity.

“The Cornell match provided a good stepping stone toward [the weekend] for gauging our level towards other competition and having a good match before this weekend,” Barry said.

The Cornell match came one day after co-captain Peter Karlen and junior Dylan Patterson traveled to Hartford for the Professional Squash Association tournament. Karlen plays in the No. 1slot for the Crimson, while Patterson plays No. 3.

Patterson won his first-round qualifier against Rohan Bahappu, who plays fifth for Trinity, providing momentum going into the weekend’s competition.

“We’ll spend the week working on our racquet work and mentally getting focused on playing some of the better teams we’ll be playing later in the season, such as Princeton and Trinity,” Karlen said. “It’s [the USSRA championship] the first event we’re trying to peak for this year.”