Cornell Men Upset #1 Princeton
by David Keating
February 8, 2013, Ithaca NY – While winter storm Nemo raged outside, the Cornell Men’s Varsity Squash team defeated visiting #1 Princeton 5-4, the first home victory in history for the Big Red over the Tigers. It was only the second time in team history that Princeton has fallen to Cornell, and both have been under Coach Mark Devoy.
Princeton was undefeated this season, and hoped to clinch the Ivy Title with wins over Cornell and Columbia this weekend, but now may have to share the honor with another team depending on the outcome of the Columbia and Yale v Harvard matches.
In the first round Cornell took an early lead with victories by Abhijit Malik (#9) over Michael LeBlanc in three games and Ryan Todd (#6) over Taylor Tutrone in four, while Tyler Osborne defeated Arjun Gupta in three.
The real drama in the first round was at #9, where LeBlanc found himself down 1-7 in game one, but rallied to pull even at 8 all. The two players traded pairs of points to 10-10, before Malik closed it out at 12-10. Game two was close right to the end, with Cornell winning 11-9. In the final game Malik ran up a 7-3 lead, and with an 8-6 lead, he chased a shot deep to the right side. He fell and couldn’t get up, but LeBlanc tinned an easy return to put the match at 9-6. After winning the point, Malik could barely get up and hobbled off court to get a badly sprained ankle taped up. He was clearly hobbling when play resumed, but immediately brought it to match ball. LeBlanc rallied to 9-10 before Malik made a hard shot that LeBlanc could not retrieve cleanly and a “not up” call ended the match.
In the second round, Princeton won their second individual match as Vivek Dinodia made quick work over the usually tough to beat Graham Dietz. Senior Owen Butler, playing his last match at home, won in three, with a dramatic come from behind win in the last game. Down 7-10, he scored five straight points to put the match away and put his team up 3-2.
Meanwhile an exquisite game of squash was still underway on the exhibition court, where Sam Kang took a quick game 11-4 from Aditya Jagtap. In the second game, the Cornell sophomore was on fire, building up 9-4 and 10-5 leads before evening the match 11-8. Jagtap continued to run up the score in the third game, staking a 6-1 lead before Kang became focused and consistent, while Jagtap saw a number of bad breaks, with unlucky strokes, nicks for his opponent and several tins that hit the top of the red line. Kang racked up nine unanswered points on the way to an 11-7 win. Jagtap took game four with four straight points off 7-7, and then built an 8-5 lead on the way to an 11-8 game five victory.
Cornell was now up 4-2, but Cornell had to win one more and with #1 Todd Harrity undefeated in his career against Cornell’s Nick Sachvie, Cornell’s hopes fell to #7 Bryan Keating and mid-season addition Michael Sunderland at #4.
Sachvie gave it his all, but Harrity won in four. The final two matches both went to five.
Keating took the first game from David Hoffman, jumping out to a 9-5 lead on the way to a solid 11-8 win. Despite falling behind 2-6, Hoffman took the second game 12-10. He then easily won game three, 11-6, and steadily built a 5-2 lead in game four. But suddenly the tide turned and Keating rang up nine straight points to force game five. The two players traded points to 5-5 in the final game and as Hoffman chased a shot to the back, he appeared to twist his knee at 8-6 for Cornell. Despite the injury, Hoffman pressed on, bringing the match to 9-10, before he tinned the last point, which sealed the victory for Cornell.
On the next court, Dylan Ward battled Sunderland in the longest match of the night, with passionate play by both players. Despite building an 8-3 lead in game one, Sunderland lost 14-12. He fell behind 6-10 in game two, but won the next six points to even the match. Sunderland won the third game 13-11, but lost badly in game four to force what by then was an exciting but anticlimactic game 5. It was a hard fought final game, with Cornell going up 9-6, but Ward refused to give up and rallied to win 11-9.
Todd Harrity (P) beat Chris Sachvie (C) 11-6, 11-4, 9-11, 11-5
Aditya Jagtap (C) beat Sam Kang (P) 4-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-7, 11-8
Tyler Osborne (P) beat Arjun Gupta (C) 11-6, 11-9, 11-3
Dylan Ward (P) beat Michael Sunderland (C) 14-12, 10-12, 11-13, 11-5, 15-13
Owen Butler (C) beat Stephen Harrington (P) 11-5, 11-5, 12-10
Ryan Todd (C) beat Taylor Tutrone (P) 11-6, 6-11, 11-8, 11-6
Bryan Keating (C) beat David Hoffman (P) 11-8, 10-12, 6-11, 11-5, 11-9
Vivek Dinodia (P) beat Graham Dietz (C) 11-5, 11-3, 11-5
Abhijit Malik (C) beat Michael LeBlanc 12-10, 11-9, 11-9
by David Keating
February 8, 2013, Ithaca NY – While winter storm Nemo raged outside, the Cornell Men’s Varsity Squash team defeated visiting #1 Princeton 5-4, the first home victory in history for the Big Red over the Tigers. It was only the second time in team history that Princeton has fallen to Cornell, and both have been under Coach Mark Devoy.
Princeton was undefeated this season, and hoped to clinch the Ivy Title with wins over Cornell and Columbia this weekend, but now may have to share the honor with another team depending on the outcome of the Columbia and Yale v Harvard matches.
In the first round Cornell took an early lead with victories by Abhijit Malik (#9) over Michael LeBlanc in three games and Ryan Todd (#6) over Taylor Tutrone in four, while Tyler Osborne defeated Arjun Gupta in three.
The real drama in the first round was at #9, where LeBlanc found himself down 1-7 in game one, but rallied to pull even at 8 all. The two players traded pairs of points to 10-10, before Malik closed it out at 12-10. Game two was close right to the end, with Cornell winning 11-9. In the final game Malik ran up a 7-3 lead, and with an 8-6 lead, he chased a shot deep to the right side. He fell and couldn’t get up, but LeBlanc tinned an easy return to put the match at 9-6. After winning the point, Malik could barely get up and hobbled off court to get a badly sprained ankle taped up. He was clearly hobbling when play resumed, but immediately brought it to match ball. LeBlanc rallied to 9-10 before Malik made a hard shot that LeBlanc could not retrieve cleanly and a “not up” call ended the match.
In the second round, Princeton won their second individual match as Vivek Dinodia made quick work over the usually tough to beat Graham Dietz. Senior Owen Butler, playing his last match at home, won in three, with a dramatic come from behind win in the last game. Down 7-10, he scored five straight points to put the match away and put his team up 3-2.
Meanwhile an exquisite game of squash was still underway on the exhibition court, where Sam Kang took a quick game 11-4 from Aditya Jagtap. In the second game, the Cornell sophomore was on fire, building up 9-4 and 10-5 leads before evening the match 11-8. Jagtap continued to run up the score in the third game, staking a 6-1 lead before Kang became focused and consistent, while Jagtap saw a number of bad breaks, with unlucky strokes, nicks for his opponent and several tins that hit the top of the red line. Kang racked up nine unanswered points on the way to an 11-7 win. Jagtap took game four with four straight points off 7-7, and then built an 8-5 lead on the way to an 11-8 game five victory.
Cornell was now up 4-2, but Cornell had to win one more and with #1 Todd Harrity undefeated in his career against Cornell’s Nick Sachvie, Cornell’s hopes fell to #7 Bryan Keating and mid-season addition Michael Sunderland at #4.
Sachvie gave it his all, but Harrity won in four. The final two matches both went to five.
Keating took the first game from David Hoffman, jumping out to a 9-5 lead on the way to a solid 11-8 win. Despite falling behind 2-6, Hoffman took the second game 12-10. He then easily won game three, 11-6, and steadily built a 5-2 lead in game four. But suddenly the tide turned and Keating rang up nine straight points to force game five. The two players traded points to 5-5 in the final game and as Hoffman chased a shot to the back, he appeared to twist his knee at 8-6 for Cornell. Despite the injury, Hoffman pressed on, bringing the match to 9-10, before he tinned the last point, which sealed the victory for Cornell.
On the next court, Dylan Ward battled Sunderland in the longest match of the night, with passionate play by both players. Despite building an 8-3 lead in game one, Sunderland lost 14-12. He fell behind 6-10 in game two, but won the next six points to even the match. Sunderland won the third game 13-11, but lost badly in game four to force what by then was an exciting but anticlimactic game 5. It was a hard fought final game, with Cornell going up 9-6, but Ward refused to give up and rallied to win 11-9.
Todd Harrity (P) beat Chris Sachvie (C) 11-6, 11-4, 9-11, 11-5
Aditya Jagtap (C) beat Sam Kang (P) 4-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-7, 11-8
Tyler Osborne (P) beat Arjun Gupta (C) 11-6, 11-9, 11-3
Dylan Ward (P) beat Michael Sunderland (C) 14-12, 10-12, 11-13, 11-5, 15-13
Owen Butler (C) beat Stephen Harrington (P) 11-5, 11-5, 12-10
Ryan Todd (C) beat Taylor Tutrone (P) 11-6, 6-11, 11-8, 11-6
Bryan Keating (C) beat David Hoffman (P) 11-8, 10-12, 6-11, 11-5, 11-9
Vivek Dinodia (P) beat Graham Dietz (C) 11-5, 11-3, 11-5
Abhijit Malik (C) beat Michael LeBlanc 12-10, 11-9, 11-9
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