The Colby Echo

Issue date: 3/2/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Drew Moreland

Colby men's squash suffered a somewhat disappointing weekend at the National Team Championships last Friday through Sunday. The men entered the event ranked 23rd in the nation, but after three losses, the Mules concluded their season in 24th place.

Colby started the competition on Friday against 18th ranked Denison College. Although the teams had not met this season, Colby did play Denison during the 2005-2006 campaign, the result of which was a 6-3 Colby loss. Unfortunately, the conclusion was the same this time around. Colby picked up wins from Ryan Maher '08 at the second position, Brett Willis '08 at the fourth position and Drew Moreland '07 at the ninth position. Captain Andy Carr '07 nearly took a win at third position after losing the first two games but coming back to take games three and four; he lost in the fifth and deciding game.

On Saturday, Colby went on to play 22nd ranked Stanford University, who the Mules had competed against on Jan. 20 to a 5-4 result in favor of Stanford. First position player Jake Leiby '09, Maher, Carr and fifth position player Harry Goldstein '09 each took wins to make the game 4-4. The result came down to the fourth position, where Justin Russell '09 took his match to five games. Head Coach Sakhi Khan described, "Both teams huddled around the court during the fifth game. The cheering of both teams was tremendous. We lost the fifth and the match 5-4. Justin played great. He just had an opponent that never gave up."

With the loss to Stanford, Colby now had to defend their 23rd ranking against 24th ranked Northeastern University. Carr, Russell and Willis took wins at their positions, each with a decisive 3-0 result. Maher and Goldstein took their matches to five games before falling 3-2. The match was a close one but unfortunately Colby was unable to get the wins where they needed them. Northeastern won 6-3, bumping Colby into the 24th ranked position.

Both Khan and Carr believe the weekend could have easily gone very differently for the Mules. Khan commented, "We could have won every match by dropped some critical games when we needed them." Carr said, "We were really even with the other teams in the division, but we couldn't pull together a day when five of us were playing our best."

Although Colby may not have finished as strongly as they had hoped, Khan noted that the season was still a success, both on and off the courts. "We had a fun and intense season. I had a great group of guys that fought hard all season long. I am proud of the way they represented the school. The team chemistry was the best I've seen."

The Mules will lose Carr at the third position and Moreland at the ninth position as well as John McCormack and Andrew Herchek to graduation, but with a fairly young team it is hoped that next season will see better results for Colby.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools