Ivy squash quashed
Francois Strydom
OXFORD'S MEN'S SQUASH team enjoyed a successful Easter tour in the United States, defeating the Ivy League schools 6-2.
Of the nine-strong squad, six played the whole tour and the other three rotated through the matches. In their opening match, Oxford secured a 6-2 victory over Dartmouth College with outstanding performances from Raj Nihalani, Matt Peakman and Rob Dale on his debut.
Although the team were defeated 7-1 against a Harvard side ranked second in Ivy League squash, Ben Garner, Oxford's number one, won his match against the Harvard skipper, and Francois Strydom, Oxford's captain, was only narrowly defeated 9-7.
The most convincing victory came at Brown University in Providence, with a great exhibition of squash leading to an 8-0 white-wash. But the highlight of the tour was a win against Yale, third in the Ivy League rankings. In New Haven, the Dark Blue faced a strengthened Yale squad consisting of both club and student players. Mark Talbot, US Hardball champion for 14 years running, was taken apart for a few points by our World Junior Champion Ben Garner.
The team came up against adverse conditions in the form of American Hardball courts in Harlem, New York, but still managed to chalk up a 7-0 victory. Then, cross-state at Cornell, Oxford triumphed by the same score. Despite a narrow 3-4 defeat against Ivy League champions Princeton, the team produced their best performance of the tour to vastly improve on the sides' previous meeting, which Oxford lost 10-2.
Philadelphia was the setting for the final Ivy League fixture of the tour. Matt Peakman, the tour organiser, played his last match for the Dark Blues in this fixture, putting in a solid performance in a 6-1 success. Matt was also awarded the most valuable player of the season award after the match.
Captain Francois Strydom said, "The tour provided a fitting close to one of the most successful seasons in Oxford Squash history. Most importantly we improved the future of Oxford squash by developing our players with international exposure and by inviting these sides to tour Oxford in future."
27th Apr 2000