The men's squash team took a bite out of the No. 22-ranked Northeastern Huskies on Tuesday, marking its third straight win and proving that the depth of its lineup may be the key to turning the tide on a tumultuous season.
Posting a 7-2 win over their canine counterparts, the Jumbos improved to 5-6 overall and defeated the Huskies for the fifth year running. Building off of two key wins last weekend, the Jumbos may have found the stroke of the racket they need to craft a successful run in the NESCAC Tournament.
"Our maturity level is great," junior Max Dalury said. "Our Nos. 7, 8 and 9 are seniors and have a lot of experience on the court that pulls us through the tough matches. They offer needed leadership, and they've been huge in the past couple matches and we need them to keep up their level of play as we head into the weekend. It was good to see players pulling their weight in their individual matches, and that puts us in good shape into the NESCACs if we keep that up."
Despite losses by No. 2 freshman Henry Miller to Northeastern junior Chris Birkins and No. 3 sophomore Ben Rind to freshman Pedro Souza, a concerted effort by the upperclassmen at the latter end of the lineup drove the match. In past showdowns, Tufts has swamped Northeastern, though the Huskies' better showing this year provided some healthy competition. Although Miller fell in three sets, the losses -- 9-7, 9-6 and 9-7 -- were closely fought, ultimately coming down to physicality. As for Rind, he held control of the T for the first set before breaking under Souza's resurgence in the final three with a combination of defensive strokes and kill shots.
"Souza's performance was remarkable," Northeastern junior co-captain Clayton Quarles said. "He was down 8-2 in the third set and rifled back for the win in five sets ... We've gotten remarkably better in the past few years ... Historically, we have lost to Tufts 9-0, but our program has become a real competitor against a team like Tufts within the last season. We held a top-20 ranking in the beginning of the season, so our match against Tufts this year, despite the loss, shows that we are becoming a legitimate threat. We will be a much better contester in the coming years."
"Ben started off well, but [Souza] was a big shooter and a high-risk shooter, and it was difficult to keep up with the pace of the ball," Dalury said. "Henry hit a few cross-court shots but was unable to pull off a win in three sets. It was a real back-and-forth match that could've gone either way."
With the return of juniors from abroad, a team retreat to the Cayman Islands and a strict workout regimen, the rejuvenated Jumbo lineup saw key performances from veteran players that kept the team afloat in the later matches. No. 5 junior Zach Bradley secured a win in five sets, which he attributed to the level of fitness the team has achieved through its offensive training.
"I won the first game, jumping out at him early, winning 9-3," Bradley said. "The second game, he surprised me, hitting some low kill shots, getting me 9-5. Running into the tiebreaker, he had two nice shots in the last minutes, winning 10-8. After that I was still pretty confident and he was tired, so it was an easier 9-1 and 9-2 victory. It came down to fitness."
From Northeastern's bunker, the plan of attack consisted of placing lob shots toward the corners and drop shots above the tin and playing defensively against a slightly higher-ranked Jumbo squad.
"We advised our players to hit a lot of defensive shots and into the back corner of the court because Tufts is a better team than we are," Quarles said. "[Tufts is] a better-talented squad, coaching, better all across the board. We were trying to wear down our opponents by making them work for every point, which was fairly successful in some matches. Some of the matches went to five games, showing that our players weren't giving up easily."
The win comes at a crucial time for Tufts as it gears up for this weekend's NESCAC Tournament. This Friday, the No. 8-seeded Jumbos will head to Connecticut, where they will look to break a two-year cycle of quarterfinal eliminations. Tufts exited at the hands of Bates and Williams in 2007 and 2008, respectively, and will now look to advance further into the tourney than in the previous two years. The Jumbos easily secured victories in the first round in both years against the perpetually struggling No. 11-seeded Wesleyan Cardinals.
This year's road to the championship, however, may have a topspin to it unlike any other in recent memory, as the Jumbos will face stiff competition from the first round on. The Jumbos may find themselves in a war of attrition against the No. 9-ranked Colby Mules in first-round play, with the possibility of a rematch against the No. 1-seeded Trinity Bantams, a team they fell to 9-0 in the season opener, looming in the quarterfinals. Despite the challenges ahead, the Jumbos cite recent boosts in team performance that may put the ball in their court this weekend.
"Colby is going to be a tough competitor," Dalury said. "Their Nos. 1, 2, and 3 are all highly competitive, though the skill level drops some amount after that point. They have a lot of talent at the top, but we're just focusing on getting every win we can. We have the confidence to make it through, but we don't want to speculate about the quarterfinals. Trinity has won 10 straight national championships, but if we made it through we'd be playing some great teams, like Bowdoin, which could bring us ahead of those teams in the rankings."
"We're looking to surprise teams this weekend," Bradley added. "We're seeded pretty low, but I think we have a good chance of picking up a win against Colby. We may not be as talented as every other team in the tournament, but we have a lot of confidence and we could pick up wins just from the fact that we may be underestimated by our opponents. We'd like to play some teams that we played in the fall, when our lineup was different, to see if we could pick up some big wins that could put us in good position for Nationals."
