This weekend, dear old Penn brought down Harvard to claim the inaugural Ivy League squash tournament crown.
The Quakers defeated the Crimson 5-4 last Sunday in a successful weekend for the Red and Blue (14-2, 5-1 Ivy) that saw both the men’s and women’s squash teams competing at the Ivy tournament. On the heels of winning their third straight regular-season Ivy Title, the Quakers were ready to put up a tough fight in New Jersey.
After all the dust settled, Penn did not disappoint.
“This match was one of the craziest matches I've ever been a part of. The recent rivalry with Harvard has been amazing and this match just added to that history,” men's squash coach Gilly Lane wrote in a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian. “I'm so proud of how hard the boys fought when trailing in the match. They stuck together and showed true brotherhood and bond.”
Before gearing up against Harvard, Penn men’s squash opened play against No. 4 Yale (6-5, 4-2 Ivy) on Saturday, looking to bounce back after falling to the Bulldogs early on in the season. Penn played with a competitive edge from the beginning of the match. Each of the top four Quakers beat their Bulldog opponents to get the ball rolling.
Senior team captain Omar Hafez and freshman Alex Dartnell were on a revenge tour of their own, competing against opponents they lost to in the regular season. Hafez faced Yale's Tad Carney and Dartnell against Rohan Gondi, but both Quakers won their matches by a one-point margin of 3-2.
Junior Salman Khalil, sophomore Zane Patel, and junior Varun Chitturi all bageled their opponents, leading to a decisive Quaker victory.
Sunday, Feb. 22, was Championship Sunday for both men’s and women’s squash. Penn made conference history as the first school to have both teams represented in the squash championship final. The men’s team played No. 2 Harvard, while the women’s team faced off against No. 1 Princeton, with the women's falling 5-1 to the Tigers.
“The mindset going into that tournament was we wanted to create history by being the first ever to win it, while also finding the balance of staying present and taking it one game at a time,” Khalil wrote in a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian.
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The team found that they did have to take it “one game at a time,” especially when Harvard came out strong and won three of the first four matches, including an upset victory that saw Harvard's Denis Gilevskiy sweep Hafez 3-0 in the no.1 match.
For a moment, it looked like the Quakers were faltering, but the Red and Blue were not ready to go down without a fight. Dartnell ignited a critical rally to lead the Quakers on a 3-0 run, tying the match 4-4.
Dartnell was named the Ivy League’s most outstanding player throughout the squash tournament after two gritty physical wins that changed Penn's momentum this weekend.
“Happy to write the history books today with this special team for the first time and to be the tournament's first ever MVP,” Dartnell wrote. "This is just the beginning.”
Fired up by Dartnell's rousing comeback, the team clawed its way back from a slow start.
“This was definitely the most competitive match I have played in my college squash career. Never have I been in a match decided by such fine margins,” Khalil wrote.
The match ultimately came down to one face-off: junior Chitturi against Harvard's Segev Rome. With the Ivy League title on the line, Chitturi won the first two sets. Rome came back at match point during the third set, keeping the Crimson in the game before Chitturi snuffed that hope out, defeating Rome in the fourth set and winning the match 3-1.
“During the match, I was trying to force myself to not think about what was actually going on,” Chitturi wrote in a statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian. “I knew if I started thinking about what would happen if I won, I’d choke. I just kept telling myself to pretend it’s a practice match and focus on playing good squash. However, after we won, it was obviously a surreal experience.”
And just like that, Penn was named the Ivy League champion once again.
“The joy and happiness of victory wasn’t solely about the result, it was also about how we as a team understood that when we came together we are indestructible, because such a comeback on a big stage doesn’t happen by chance,” Khalil wrote. ”It takes belief, brotherhood, and most importantly, it takes everyone.”
And with this new confidence in the team's bond, both the men's and women’s teams are still looking to make history as they will compete for a national championship at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center in Philly from February 27 to March 1.
“We are really looking forward to the national championships and using this momentum from last weekend in our favor,” coach Lane wrote. “It is the most wide open that the nationals have been in many years so it is really important that we are mentally and physically ready to go from the first round.”
The men’s team is looking to win its third-straight College Squash Association team title, while the women’s team is also looking to bring a trophy back to Locust Walk.
“Nationals is the time this group is going to make it count,” Khalil wrote. “We are not chasing nationals again, we are not defending anything, this group is going to win nationals for the first time ever ... We have never been on such a high, and never been hungry for more.”
Sports Editor Hannah Chang contributed reporting.
