"Yale and Princeton are some of the stiffest competition in the country," said John Holodnak '03. "We should fare much better at nationals, where we will play other small schools."
The Jeffs knew they would face an uphill battle when Yale visited Amherst's Davenport squash courts on Saturday.
The Bulldogs were ranked fourth nationally in the latest NISRA poll, while Amherst remained locked in at a respectable 14th in the national rankings.
"We knew going into [the Yale match] that each match was going to be extremely difficult," said number two-player Piercarlo Valdesolo '03. "We saw the match as an opportunity to work on our shots and improve our games."
Senior Captain and number one player Addison West was the lone winner for the Jeffs, but the team eventually fell by the overall score of 8-1.
West had an exciting victory over Yale's number one, Chris Olson. West defeated Olson in impressive fashion, winning a tense match in five games.
Andrew Merle '04 expressed awe of his teammate: "[West's] match was amazing ... he showed incredible heart and skill and should do quite well at the individual nationals later on this spring," commented Merle.
Valdesolo and fellow sophomores David Bauer (no. 3) and Roger Boulay (no. 7) had close matches, but in the end they fell to their opponents in short three-game matches.
On Sunday, the team traveled to Trinity College where they played Princeton University, ranked third nationally and second in the talented Ivy League. Despite a few close games, the Jeffs eventually lost the match 9-0.
Next weekend the Jeffs will travel to Yale to participate in the NISRA team nationals. They will most likely be competing in the Hoehn Division, which contains many of their NESCAC foes, such as Bowdoin and Colby Colleges.
"It has been a tough season, but if we continue to practice hard, I think we can fare quite well nationally," said West. He and Valdesolo will continue on to the individual nationals, held at Harvard University.