"The win definitely vindicated the season-long sentiment that we were much improved over the Amherst teams of past years who could hold their ranking but never really make the big push that it takes to move up in the rankings," said junior Stu Landesberg.
Unfortunately, Saturday's win over Brown was followed by a 7-2 loss to ninth-ranked Cornell University in the finals, but nonetheless the Jeffs headed back to Amherst having accomplished one of their goals from the preseason-cracking the top 10 rankings, a feat that hasn't been accomplished in over five years.
"All season we had trained really hard for a shot to move ahead in the rankings, and unfortunately we weren't able to make that breakthrough," said junior tri-captain Auloke Mathur, who called breaking into the top-10 "the icing on the cake."
The 14th-ranked Bowdoin College Polar Bears were the first obstacle in the Jeffs' path to the top 10 in a rematch of a Jan. 11 match that Amherst won, 6-3. The Jeffs prevailed again and even improved upon the early-season match by cruising to a 7-2 victory. Mathur, first-year Gautam Kalani, junior Stu Landesberg and first-year Jerome Giovinazzo all made things look easy with 3-0 wins. Number-one player first-year Drew Blacker dropped his first two games before winning three straight for the win.
Though Brown was ranked just one spot ahead of Amherst, both teams knew that there was a great deal riding on the next day's match. "The nature of college squash is such that matchups of two teams separated by few or even one spot in the rankings can be lopsided, so any movement is a real accomplishment," said Landesberg.
Though the top-three players lost, the bottom two-thirds of the ladder came through for Amherst, demonstrating the depth that Landesberg called "our biggest weapon all year." However, if there was a hero in this match it was junior Peter Hatfield, who came from behind to win a five-game match on the fourth court. Though the Jeffs were up 4-2, midway through Hatfield's match the win seemed less than assured, as all three remaining matches were going in Brown's direction. Hatfield prevailed, however, winning his final two games after dropping two straight.
"[Hatfield] fought really hard, played the best squash I've seen him play all year, and won his biggest match of the season at the most appropriate time possible," said Mathur. "He made the upset happen."
Kalani, Landesberg, senior tri-captain Nick Haslett and Giovinazzo breezed through their matches on the fifth, sixth, eighth and ninth courts, respectively, to pick up their second wins in two days.
Haslett and Giovinazzo capped a banner weekend with wins on Sunday against Cornell; both the senior and the first-year went undefeated in the championship matches-not a bad way for Haslett to end a successful four years and for Giovinazzo to cap off his first season of collegiate squash. Their teammates trumpeted the play of both over the weekend.
"Our two winners this weekend were Jerome Giovinazzo and Nick Haslett," said senior tri-captain Tyler Mixter. "Jerome finished off a really strong season at the number-nine spot, with probably the best record on the team. I would like to see him continue to play well and work his way up the ladder for next year."
Added Landesberg, "Haslett came out stronger than anyone could have expected … Not only did his attitude and success over the weekend help to set the tone, but after a long career, this clutch performance was a very impressive ending."
By ending strong, the Jeffs are optimistic about the 2006-07 season. "I feel this is a major breakthrough for the team-and we now know that we have it in us to aim at higher goals and accomplish them," said Mathur. "Our agenda for next season will be to break into the top eight teams in the country and [to quench] our undying desire to beat Williams."
Landesberg added, "Despite losing Nick [Haslett] and Tyler [Mixter], the team returns numbers one through six and our depth will be very impressive again next season. With the top six intact, the upward trend should continue and we expect ourselves to be competing in the top eight next season."