Georgetown player Frank Hamilton reports on his team’s matches in the Naval Academy Round Robin, which was held on November 13th – 15th.
Annapolis, MD — Georgetown men’s squash entered Friday with high hopes and left the tournament confident in the team’s progress and prospects for the rest of the year. Coming off of a disappointing outing at cross-town rival George Washington the previous weekend, we were looking to get solid wins against Vanderbilt, USC and Fordham and to try to chip away at fellow club team Denison. We had our most complete team outing of the year so far with eight of our top nine in action on Friday and seven of the top nine on Saturda,y so we entered the weekend healthy, well-rested and excited for a chance to show what the 2009-2010 team has to offer.
Due to late Friday classes (and some very stubborn professors), we started off the weekend at Navy with a split-squad 8-1 victory over the University of Southern California. Seven of the top eight took their matches in three but our #1, Michael-Henry Elghanian-Krayem ‘10, met stronger resistance as he fell to a very talented Trojan, John Rothie.
After a twenty-minute break we headed over to the Halsey courts for a match with our friendly rival to the south, Vanderbilt University. In truth, we underestimated the Commodores and were very impressed by their young and very talented squad. The match was closer than the results indicated as we pulled off an 8-1 victory despite a slip up at the number three position. We were especially impressed by freshman wunderkind, Tony Imbesi who scratched out a five-set victory capped by a marathon fifth game, which he won 18-16. After a long day, the team headed back to Washington to get some rest before the early morning trip ahead.
Miraculously, we were able to gather six of the seven scheduled to play at 7:00 am on Saturday morning. Despite the absence of a dazed freshman, Nikhil Chanrai ’10 woke up to our first phone call and entered the car within two minutes of his surprise alarm. Nikhil, along with the rest of the team (save a five setter at the three position), was able to win convincingly at the number 7 position against Fordham.
Groggy and hungry after the Fordham match, the team headed out for an ill-planned brunch of onion rings, milk shakes, bacon and fries — the breakfast of champions — before an exciting match with Denison. Despite the meal, the team fared well in a match with Denison that was closer than the score indicates. Newcomer Oscar Neubaurer ’12 came back from two down to capture a victory at the number five position along with Pat Trousdale ’12 and Paul Reilly ’13, who lost close five-gamers at the number 2 and number 8 positions, respectively. Nevertheless, an impressive Denison team was able to capture a decisive 8-1 victory.
After a long two days (including the aforementioned 7 am Saturday wake up), the team parted ways for warm showers and long naps before a team gathering later that night. Needless to say, at said gathering only strategy and proper boast techniques were discussed. Overall, we were very happy with our showing for the weekend and would like to thank Coach Dawson of the Naval Academy once again for his hospitality and kindness. Next up are pivotal matches against Connecticut College, Colgate, and Wesleyan at the Wesleyan Round Robin on December 4th – 6th.
