“There’s no doubt in my mind that we’ll work really, really hard for that and beat them there,” Hall said.
The Crimson women next host No. 10 Penn on Saturday at noon, followed by No. 3 Princeton on Sunday.
Harvard Men
The Harvard men’s match with the Bantams wasn’t nearly as close as the women’s. Facing seven of the top 20 ranked players in the nation, the Crimson fell by a final score of 8-1.
Amidst a rapid Trinity crowd, the single win for Harvard came from freshman Michael Blumberg, also the only player to take his match into a fourth game. Blumberg contended with 17th- ranked senior Rohan Bhappu in the No.5 spot.
“He’s a tough player,” Blumberg said. “He mixes it up so it’s hard to get a rhythm.”
Blumberg took control of the first two games, winning 9-5 and 9-3. But Bhappu came back in the third game, beating Blumberg 9-6 and forcing a fourth game.
“The first two games were really good,” Blumberg said. “I got out there and took the ball to him. Sometimes, he got on a roll—I tried to slow it down and get my game going.”
The remaining crowd filed in during the fourth game to watch Harvard’s final shot at a win, as all the other matches had ended. Blumberg came through with a 9-7 game, marring Trinity’s list of 3-0 wins with a 3-1 Harvard victory.
“You get really nervous, especially coming here,” Blumberg said. “There are so many people. They make it really hard to think because they’re so loud.”
Another player that fell victim to Trinity jeers is co-captain Peter Karlen, who returned from injury in last week’s competition against Dartmouth.
No. 5 ranked Karlen played in the No. 4 spot, attracting attention in one of Trinity’s new courts with a close 10-8 loss against eighth-ranked junior Nicholas Kyme in the first game. Kyme won the next two games 9-6, 9-1, as Karlen fell 3-0 for the match. Bantam squash enthusiasts weren’t thrilled with Karlen, loudly criticizing every let he called while cheering for the hometown favorite.
“He’s obviously not 100 percent,” Bajwa said. “But him being on the team just strengthens everybody and we definitely needed that.”
Among the matchups with the best players in the nation, junior Dylan Patterson lost to top-ranked freshman Bernardo Samper in the No. 1 spot immediately following sophomore James Bullock’s loss to No. 3-ranked sophomore Michael Ferreira in the No. 2 spot.
Despite the paper results, the Crimson ended its battle with No. 1 Trinity with hope for the NISRA championship that Harvard will host on Feb. 22-24.
“I think the home crowd’s a big deal,” Karlen said. “Couple weeks, hopefully, we’ll get them in the finals. That’s the championship at Harvard, so I think we’ll have a chance to turn around then, and get different matchups. Anything can happen on the day.”
On deck for the Crimson men are tournaments against No. 15 Amherst on Wednesday, followed by contests with No. 10 Penn and No. 4 Princeton on Saturday and Sunday, all hosted by Harvard at Barnaby Courts in the Murr Center.