The Jeffs followed up one ambitious match with another. On Jan. 17, they took to the courts against seventh-ranked Dartmouth College. Amherst exhibited an abundance of tenacity, determination and solid playing, with Mathur coming from behind to push his 19th-ranked opponent to a 2-2 tie before falling in the fifth game of the match. In the number nine spot, sophomore Brian Warner put in an equally admirable performance, only conceding defeaet to Dartmouth player Billy Nix in the fifth round. In the end, Giovinazzo was the sole Jeff to notch an overall win for Amherst-and the Jeffs' season record went down to 3-4.
The Jan. 23 home match against Brown University saw the Jeffs begin to turn the tide. Sophomore Drew Blacker and Rapisarda, playing in the number-two and three spots, respectively, each took their opponents handily, 3-0. In the number-eight spot, Giovinazzo turned in a nailbiting underdog victory as he surged from two games behind to snatch a five-game victory from his Brown Bear rival. Unfortunately, the remaining matches went the other way to produce a 3-6 loss for the Jeffs.
Despite the three losses, it is not the nature of the men's squash team to give up. The final two games of Interterm saw the Jeffs produce some stellar performances.
On Jan. 26, the team stormed the squash courts of number-nine Cornell University and emerged with a 6-3 victory over their higher-ranked foe. While Mathur, playing in the number one spot for only the second time in his career, fell to Big Red Rohit Gupta, he proved a difficult opponent to beat, forcing the third match to extra points. In the winning matches, Blacker, Rapisarda, Stuart Landesberg '07, Gautam Kalani '09 and Craig McCready '07 all shut out their opponents 3-0. Giovinazzo defeated his Cornell counterpart, 3-1. With the upset victory against Cornell, Amherst moved to a 4-5 record on the season.
"The win against Cornell was good for us not only because it helped solidify our place in the rankings, but also because we put forth a full lineup for the first time since before Christmas," commented Landesberg. "Having Gautam and Ben back in their spots definitely improves our depth."
The team seized the chance to even its record as the Jeffs stampeded Hobart College 9-0 the following day. Mathur's third match as Amherst's number one seed was also his first victory in the top spot, as he soundly defeated his rival 9-2, 9-4, 9-1, while senior co-captain Peter Hatfield, playing in number five, dismissed Hobart player Brian Shiver without conceding a single point. In every spot down the ladder, the Jeffs handily won their matches 3-0.
As the team heads into the NES-CAC Tournament, Blacker summed up the recent weeks of the season. "I'd say we've been doing alright," he said. "We suffered a hard loss to Brown, but played solidly against Cornell and Hobart. We have a chance to start closing out our season well with the NESCACs this weekend."
"Since Brown, we have really stepped up our focus and more importantly our intensity during practice and I think that carried into the weekend to a large extent," added Landesberg. "Unlike in past years, our team has the talent to pull some big upsets which makes the end stretch of the season very exciting. I think that we truly look forward to facing the higher ranked teams because at every position in the lineup we have a good shot to win."