In very few sports do Tufts teams compete with and beat Div. I schools on a regular basis. The men's squash team, however, is one of those teams, maintaining a ranking in the top 25 nationally for the past 10 seasons alongside D−I powers such as Stanford, Brown and Northwestern.
The Jumbos enter the 2010 season ranked 20th in the nation by the College Squash Association, the sport's governing body for intercollegiate play in the United States. The team hopes to maintain its national prestige despite a lack of experience in its lineup.
"We lost two−thirds of our starters from last season," coach Doug Eng said. "This year, we are very young. There's good talent, but it may take a while to develop."
"Anytime you lose more than half your starters, it is tough to maintain your ranking, especially because those guys all played highly on the ladder," senior captain Alex Gross said. "That being said, our returning players and freshmen have been working very hard on and off the court. I have been very impressed with the improvements each player has made with his game."
Even with its inexperience, this young squad, which opens its season today against Brown at nearby Harvard, is entering the season with high expectations.
"We have discussed our goals for the season and have decided that staying in the C Division going into nationals would be a success," Gross said, referring to a ranking between 17th and 24th.
For the Jumbos to achieve these goals, they will have to win matches against other schools ranked closely to them, a task that won't come very easily.
"We will never be able to beat teams like Harvard and Yale ranked in the top 10," junior Chris Mutzel said. "We will compete most closely against teams ranked between 14th and 25th in the rankings."
In addition to 14th−ranked Brown, the Jumbos face seven teams ranked between 14th and 25th — including Stanford, Amherst, Hamilton, St. Lawrence, George Washington, Colby and Bowdoin — in the regular season. For the Jumbos to stay in the C Division at the end of the season, they will have to win many of these matches against equal, if not better, competition.
In regular season squash matches, Tufts ranks its top nine players to go up against the top nine from an opposing school. Each time an individual player wins, he earns a point for his team. After all the individual matches are over, the school with the most points wins the overall match.
With this format, the ninth−ranked player on Tufts' ladder is just as important to the team as the top player. Thus, it will be up to the young players, including four freshmen who are in contention to start right away, to provide depth and fill the void left behind by the five graduating starters.
The Tufts lineup, although it will likely change throughout the season, currently has Gross at number one, followed by senior Ben Rind, junior Henry Miller and freshman Michael Abboud, according to Eng.
Senior Andrew Kim is currently fifth on the ladder, followed by two more freshmen, Jeremy Ho and Tesfa Hailu. Mutzel, junior Will Salisbury and freshman Ben Briggs are all being considered for the eighth and ninth spots in Tufts' starting lineup.
Although the Jumbos' lineup is full of new faces, one thing that hasn't changed is Gross as the team's top gun. Playing at the number one spot as a junior, Gross was voted to the All−NESCAC First Team for the second consecutive season and qualified for the College Squash Association Individual Championships, where he finished among the top 100 players in the entire country.
"Alex really grew last year in maturity," Eng said. "He defeated a couple of Harvard and Cornell players at Individuals. He's developed a big man's game with cutting off, volleying and aggressively controlling the T. He controls the ball with more fade and feel."
The Jumbos will be relying on Gross' services even more this season. As captain, he has already imparted his squash knowledge to the team's many young players.
"I want to get our young players and those new to the top nine comfortable on court in a competitive match," Gross said. "I've learned that being confident and comfortable on court can make a world of difference. This confidence can come from knowing what one's strengths and weaknesses are and understanding strategy for each point and game."
Mutzel has already seen the value of Gross' leadership skills in practice.
"He's a great captain who is willing to help everyone on the team get better," Mutzel said.
Although the Jumbos will be less experienced than in years past, Gross believes that with steady improvement over time, the team can still have a very strong season.
"Losing five starters is tough and will require us to approach this season slightly differently than my three previous years," Gross said. "We have a lot of new players but so do other teams. I think if we set appropriate goals, for the team and individuals, this season can be a success. We will see how it all plays out."
