Men's squash kicks off fall season with convincing victory over Wesleyan

The No. 24 Tufts men’s squash team cruised comfortably over Wesleyan College in its season opener held at Wesleyan, notching a 7–2 win. 

Wesleyan’s Sean Choi drew first blood by blanking first-year Kunal Valia 14–12, 11–6, 11–4. The Jumbos, however, bounced back to win seven of the remaining eight matches to register a convincing victory and start to the season. Tufts expected as much.

 “We came in thinking we were going to win 9–0, but they actually made us work really hard," first-year Sanjeev Jeyabalan said. “They had a strong top, and what we had to do was fight hard in the bottom to ensure that we could secure a win. Most matches ended in 3–0, so people played well."

Jeyabalan, playing at the fourth position, came back after a rocky first set to defeat Wesleyan’s William Bienstock 7–11, 11–9, 11–1, 11–8. It was his first match for the Jumbos.

 “It was my first college match, so I was nervous initially," Jeyabalan said. “This was a match I was meant to win 3–0, but I lost the first game 7–11. My teammates and my coach told me to play my game and not be too distracted by what my opponent was doing.”

First-year Shloke Sahay followed suit, besting Wesleyan’s Thomas Brinton 11–6, 11–2, 11–6. As squash is an individual sport, Sahay reflected on his experience of playing in a team for the first time. 

“I loved the experience of playing for a team,” Sahay said. “When you look back at the crowd, if you have people you know and who have been with you throughout the journey of preparing, it is quite comforting and motivating.” 

The Jumbos played a scrimmage against the Harvard women’s squash team a day before their encounter against Wesleyan. This served as valuable match practice and exposed them to the intensity of college squash.

“The match against the Harvard women’s team was a really good preparation for this match and eased us into the match playing process,” Jeyabalan said. “I got a chance to test out my shots just the day before. It served as a good introduction to the whole college squash league.”

With the squash courts at Tufts under renovation, the team travels to Harvard to conduct its practice sessions. Although this puts them at a disadvantage in terms of time and flexibility, Valia looked at the brighter side of things.

“Harvard has one of the nicest facilities in the country so getting to play there is definitely a privilege,” he said. “Nobody on the team complains about it.”

With the renovation of the Tufts courts to be completed by February, Jeyabalan was excited at the prospect of training whenever they wanted, and not just when they have a ride available to take them to Harvard.

“Once Tufts has courts, it will be a lot more flexible in terms of training times,” Jeyabalan said. “It means that more people on the team can have individual sessions with the coach and just have more independence on when we want to train.”

The Jumbos made full use of the offseason, focusing on strength and conditioning to avoid injuries coming into the season.

“We did a lot of conditioning at the start of the season,” Valia said. “We have also been involved in a lot of match play before the season for fine-tuning our skills and just sharpening up for these matches.”

The Jumbos hope to utilize the mix of youth and experience in their team to their advantage and make the most of their opportunities. 

“I feel that we’ve recruited pretty well this year with four [first-years] and a walk on, so the team has improved a lot,” Sahay said. “We hope to at least jump up a couple of spots into the top 20.”

The team will travel to Franklin and Marshall College for their next match on Nov. 23.