Cambridge, MA. — Today the purple cows traveled to Cambridge to take on MIT, where they suffered a 6-3 defeat. With the Eph squad fighting some injuries and illnesses, they were down four of the top nine, but still had many hard fought matches up and down the ladder. Almost any match could have gone either way; it just came down to tiebreaks and the Ephs performance in important games.
To start off the first round, Jack Lee took the MIT opponent to 10-10 in the first, but unfortunately losing 12-10, and then 3-0. Charles Merill and Alex Akbari both played some incredible squash today, each winning their match for Williams. Charles lost the first, but then regrouped and with some patient, smart squash managed to win 3-1, finishing off the match with a stellar cross court nick. Alex Akbari also conceded a tight first game after a slow start. But he regrouped and outlasted the MIT opponent, managing to take the win 3-1, with two games going to 13-11.
In the second round of play, Andrew Minnis led off the Ephs at the number 2 seed. After a flat start going down 2-0, he managed to take the 3rd 11-9 but unfortunately lost in a hard fought fourth game 13-11. First year John Nicholson also went down 2-0, but regrouped to win the 3rd 11-8. However, he couldn't continue the momentum and lost the fourth. Rafay Syed lost 3-0 to close out the second round, although he almost took the third with several match ball opportunities.
And in the third and final round of play, co-captain Will Evans had a brutal, over an hour match. After going down 2-0 from a slow start, he fought hard in the third managing to win it 11-6, but unfortunately lost the fourth. Andrew Lee had an extremely close five game match. After dominating the court with his volleys, he went up 2-0, but an intense push from his opponent tied up the score 2-2. Unfortunately, in a heartbreaking tiebreak, he lost 13-11 in the fifth after giving it his all. To end off the day, the purple cows crowded around first year Asher Leavy's court to cheer him on. He started strong, winning the first 11-6. Unfortunately, a small lapse of focus caused him to lose the second, but he regrouped and dominated the rest of the match to win 3-1.
Overall, there were many tight matches today, and the Ephs are now more motivated than ever to train harder and to win the games that matter. Assistant Coach Blair Dils said, "it was disappointing to lose to a team several spots behind us in the rankings, but we are eager to play them a second time with a full line up". The purple cows look forward to Saturday when they play at Columbia.
