Proving their mettle against a pair of Trinity doubles teams, junior Dylan Patterson and co-captain Peter Karlen walked away as national collegiate squash doubles champions at the George Cummings Invitational. The University Club of New York hosted 15 teams from 11 colleges for its annual tournament, held between Christmas and New Year’s.

With no effect on collegiate rankings, the competition was a matter of pride. The Harvard duo battled their way through fifth-game tiebreakers in both the semifinals and finals against the Trinity foes.

“We’re tired of losing to Trinity,” said Patterson, who played in the No. 3 spot in Harvard’s last collegiate competition. “We didn’t want them to get this one away from us.”

Unlike in singles, doubles tournaments are hardball competitions that rely more on brute strength than finesse. The ball bounces much more quickly in a court that is over twice the size of a singles court.

“I was hitting the ball as hard as I could on every shot,” Patterson said. “I felt like my arm was going to fall off.”

The Invitational actually consisted of both the doubles tournament and a singles soft-ball tournament, and Karlen reached the finals of both.

Karlen suffered debilitating cramps in his left calf and hamstring when he was just three points away from victory, up 6-1 in the fourth game over Trinity No. 5 Lefika Ragonste in the championship match. Karlen ended up losing the game 9-7 and took a five-minute injury timeout between the fourth and fifth games.

Ragonste cramped up in the fifth game as well, and Karlen shared his tiger balm with his competitor before resuming play. Ragonste then pulled out the final game 9-7.

In a testament to his endurance and willpower, Karlen played five hours of squash in one day with little downtime because the semifinals and final of the singles competition were the same day as the doubles championship.

“I was hurting,” Karlen said. “Dylan carried me in the finals.”

With Patterson fresh that day and Karlen overcoming his fatigue, the Harvard team defeated the Trinity team of Carl Baglio and Nadeen Osman to capture the championship. The Crimson pair surmounted a 13-11 deficit in the final game to win 17-15.

Osman had defeated Patterson in the quarters of the singles tournament before falling to Karlen in the semis. Harvard’s other singles entry, junior Thomas Storch, lost in the round of 16 to Dartmouth No. 1 Hamed Anvari.

To start the tournament, the Harvard team coasted over the Yale team of Aftab Mathur and Ziad Haider, winning 3-0 in the quarters following a first-round bye. The duo then faced the first Trinity pairing of Patrick Malloy and Noah Wimmer in the semis.

In a tight match, Patterson and Karlen pulled out a 17-15 victory in the fifth game. They survived a 14-12 Trinity gameball that forced Karlen to dive to the court, setting up a Patterson winner.

The victory was sweet redemption for the Crimson teammates, who had lost in the finals to a Trinity team including Malloy last year.