The Jeffs came out smoking, with a 9-0 shellacking of the 19th-ranked Wesleyan University Cardinals, including 3-0 shutouts from six of the nine matches. Freshmen phenom Michael Strong lived up to his last name, starting the day off with a 3-1 (9-2, 5-9, 9-6, 10-8) win over Cardinal Colin Heyes.
"We played decently this weekend, but we expected to beat Wesleyan a little easier and quicker than we did," said Strong.
Co-captain Carlo Valdesolo '03 followed up Strong's win with a 3-0 (9-0, 9-2, 9-6) shutout over Benson Gillespie. Gifford Sommerkamp '05 and co-captain John Holodnak '03 followed suit next with 3-0 shutout wins. Sommerkamp defeated his opponent Taylor Greene (9-3, 9-1, 9-1) and Holodnak won against Ohm Pandejpong (9-5, 9-6, 9-4).
David Bauer '03 and John Brody '02 encountered more difficulty but still managed to defeat their opponents in five sets, with Bauer defeating Kevin McCarthy (4-9, 4-9, 9-5, 9-4, 9-5) and Brody defeating Wei Kwan (8-10, 4-9, 9-5, 9-4, 9-5).
In the last three matches, Asad Haque '04, Brian Lawrence '05 and Andrew Merle '04 had little trouble with the competition defeating their opponents, 4-0, 3-0 and 3-0. Haque won (9-3, 9-5, 9-3, 9-5), Lawrence won (9-0, 9-0, 9-2), and Merle won (9-2, 9-0, 9-7).
But the story was very different when the Ephs stepped on to the court. Seven Jeffs were shutout, and Amherst fell 8-1 to the purple cows. Bauer was the one bright light on the afternoon defeating Williams' Dan Bishop 3-1 (10-8, 9-5, 1-9, 9-0). The Ephs also defeated the Cardinals in eight out of nine slots to claim the Little III Championship.
"We knew Williams was going to be tough, but we knew they were beatable," said Strong. "Most of the matches were closer than what the scores would indicate."
After the weekend, Williams improved to 9-2 on the season, with Amherst still holding on to .500 on the season at 7-7.
The Amherst men's squash team will next head to Yale University on Feb. 16 for their final regular season match of the year.