Feb. 27, 2004

NEW HAVEN, CT- 6th seeded Cornell was leveled by 3rd seeded Yale Friday afternoon in the opening round of the College Squash Association Championships. The Bulldogs used the homefield advantage in hosting the tournament to their advantage, easily dispatching the surging Big Red by a score of 9-0.

The dominant Yale squad took six of the nine matches by shutout. No. 1 squasher Matt Serediak gave it his all, but couldn't take down the #2 nationally-ranked Illingsworth. Bernstein and Cheng faced similar battles in falling the 13th ranked Schwartz and 17th ranked Manchandra respectively. Bernstein, Greenberg, and Fong each took their opponents to 4 sets before falling.

Cornell still has a chance to capture the consolation bracket win, but the level of competition will not get any easier. The tournament is the greatest test of college squash in America. Once again this year the Ivies have shown their supremacy of the sport by Occupying 6 of the 8 spots in the highest "Potter" division, so the competition is fierce.

The CSA Championships (formerly the NISRA Championships) are being held all weekend long. Cornell will take on Coach Scott Stoneburg's alma mater, the University of Western Ontario (who dropped their first round match to #2 Harvard) tomorrow at 3 p.m.

RESULTS:

1. J. Illingsworth (Y) def. Matthew Serediak (C) 9-5, 9-0, 9-7

2. J. Schwartz (Y) def. Ben Bernstein (C) 8-10, 9-0, 9-3, 9-7

3. A. Manchandra (Y) def. William Cheng (C) 9-1, 9-0, 10-8

4. H. Chirls (Y) def. Mike Delany (C) 9-2, 9-5, 9-2

5. A. Geva (Y) def. Matt Greenberg (C) 10-8, 9-3, 4-9, 10-8

6. G. Cumbibatce (Y) def. Rohit Gupta (C) 9-1, 9-1, 9-5

7. A. Vinci (Y) def. Geoffrey Fong (C) 9-7, 3-9, 9-4, 9-2

8. T. Rees (Y) def. Ben Stokes (C) 9-3, 9-5, 9-0

9. R. Byrnes (Y) def. Ted Hill (C) 9-0, 9-1, 9-1