Returning from Thanksgiving break, men’s squash welcomed Cornell University this past weekend. Tufts beat the University of Rochester 6–3 at home, leaving them with a record of 2–3 as of Nov. 23. The Big Red are ranked No. 9 while the Jumbos are ranked No. 10. The matchup was a highly intense game, with the Jumbos losing 8–1. Sophomore Rutva Samant secured the lone win for the Jumbos.
Cornell started out strong, with all but one of their players securing a win in the first game of their matches. The battle against Cornell was not an easy one. Last season, Tufts lost to Cornell 9–0, with no one from the Jumbos winning a match.
The Jumbos’ top seed, sophomore Nachiket Desai, lost 3–1. Second-seeded sophomore Aarav Gill lost 3–0. Third-seeded senior Kerwin Teh lost 3–0. Fourth-seeded freshman Santiago Medina lost a close match 3–2. Fifth-seeded junior Rohan Valia had a close match, losing 3–2, going back and forth until the final game. Sixth-seeded junior Jared Chin lost 3–1. Seventh-seeded senior Youssef Ezzo lost 3–1. One of the closest matches came via first year Ali Tarek, the ninth seed, who fell 11–8, 10–12, 11–8, 2–11, 11–6 against Cornell sophomore Arnav Tevatia. The match was very close with both opponents going hard in all the games against each other.
Samant, who was the eighth seed, won 10–12, 4–11, 11–8, 11–9, 11–4 against first year Roman Bicknell. According to Samant, the Jumbos came back early from Thanksgiving break to practice and do additional workouts to help the players “get back in shape.”
Samant believes that he did not start off strong against Bicknell. He remarked that his strategy changed over the course of the match.
“Throughout the game, I eventually have an idea of what I’m doing right and what I’m not doing right and what I need to change based on how my opponent is playing. … I realized that I had to change my strategy a bit, and I had to … play more straight [across],” Samant said.
After the first two games, Samant took his advice and turned the tables around, eventually winning the match. Even though his victory gave Tufts a win, the match also meant something more for Samant personally. Samant mentioned that he was in a bit of a rut prior to the break and that the win helped him turn his form around.
The match against Cornell was the last match of the fall semester for Tufts, leaving them with a current record of 2–4.
“I think the great thing about our team is [we] always … look at the positives. And that was the first thing coach said, was that even though we lost 8–1, the score doesn’t tell the whole story. I think everyone had some great matches and some great performances there. … It’s good to learn from these losses and learn what went wrong,” Samant said.
During winter break, Tufts will take on Denison University on Jan. 10 in San Diego, California.
