Trinity Men Still On Top Entering Opening Weekend
by David Kingsley
Hartford, Conn., November 15, 2011 - The Trinity College men's squash team, which finished the 2010-11 season with its 13th straight perfect record at 20-0 and captured its fifth consecutive New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Championship title, its 14th straight Intercollegiate Squash Association Dual Match title, and its 13th consecutive College Squash Association (CSA) National Team Championship crown, is ranked No. 1 in the CSA National Pre-Season Poll. The Bantams, coached by Paul Assaiante (18th Season), own the longest known winning streak in the history of intercollegiate varsity sports with 244 triumphs in a row. The Bantams open the season at Colby on Saturday, November 19 at 2 p.m. and will visit Bates and Bowdoin at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., respectively, the next day.
Having lost seven of its top 11 players from a year ago, Trinity is faced with its first rebuilding project in recent memory despite the return of three-time All-American senior co-captain Vikram Malhotra (Mumbai, India) at the No. 1 position and 2010 All-American co-captain and CSA Singles Semifinalist Antonio Diaz (Mexico City, Mexico). Malhotra and Diaz have been through the wars several times with a 98-15 record between them, and the pair is leading a hard-working group of young players eager to make their own mark. Junior Johan Detter (Malmoe, Sweden) emerged as a force in the latter half of the Trinity lineup last winter with a 13-2 record, and has continued his steady improvement this season. Junior Juan Flores (San Salvador, El Salvador) also has 21 matches (17-4 record) of varsity experience, while classmate Reinhold Hergeth (Bloemfontein, South Africa) is 24-3 over the last two seasons. Sophomore Matthew Mackin (Greenwich, Conn.) and junior Greg Crane (Boston, Mass.) have both been solid in pre-season, while junior transfer Juan Diego Lopez (Bogota, Colombia) should be an immediate fixture among Trinity’s top nine.
“Our losses to graduation have created a void, while the rest of college squash has come up to the bar,” says Assaiante. “We are still the defending champions, but we can’t get caught comparing ourselves to the teams from the past. We are working extremely at practice and will do our very best to win as many matches as we can.”
The freshman class is deep with six players possessing the ability to make an immediate impact on the club as rookies. Miled Zarazua (Mexico City, Mexico) is a top-flight prospect, while Elroy Leong (Selangor, Malaysia) and Pranay Merchant (Mumbai, India) are also talented. American players Alex Lynch (Greenwich, Conn.) and Robert Zindman (Belle Mead, N.J.) could also play themselves into the lineup in their first collegiate seasons.
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