SAINTS SECOND AT LIBERTY LEAGUE TOURNAMENT

The University of Rochester lived up to its pre-tournament favorite status with an impressive 8-1 win over two-time defending champion St. Lawrence in the Liberty League Championships at SLU’s Robie Squash Center on Saturday.

 

The Saints bounced back with a 9-0 win over Vassar and a 8-1 win over Hobart and beat Hamilton 7-2 on Sunday to finish second in the tournament with a 3-1 record.

 

Nick Pearson went 4-0 in the tournament for the Saints at four and Saint senior Dan McElvaine moved to within two of the Saint all-time match victory record, going 3-1 at one in the tournament while rookie Alex Dodge was impressive in his first tournament, going 3-1 at two. Scott Redpath, Tyler Stout, Ben Ross and Tom Whelan were also 3-1 for the Saints in the tournament.

 

Newcomer Edwin Goncharuk of UR and Saint rookie Stout played a highlight match at five in the Rochester match with Goncharuk prevailing 3-2 after trailing 2-1 and Robert McDavid and Alex Lee took 3-1 wins at six and seven over the Saints Dan Shafer and Ross.

 

Pearson had the lone Saint win, 3-0 at four while Jim Bristow, Hameed Ahmed and Will Newnham were impressive for the Yellowjackets at one through three.

 

The Saints won all ten matches against Vassar, nine of them in three straight. Anshuman Beri of Vassar beat Dodge in the first game at two, but the Saint rookie won the next three, 9-4, 9-4 and 9-0 for the win. Redpath prevailed 10-8, 9-4, 9-2 in a good match at three and Pearson remained unbeaten in the tournament with a 3-0 win at four. Other Saint winners included McElvaine at one, Stout at five, Shafer at six, Ross at seven, Whelan at eight, Pete Montesano at nine and Chris Honeywell at ten.

 

The Saints won matches one through eight in their win over Hobart. McElvaine had a good match with Hobart number one Clae Forgues, winning 9-5, 9-5 and 9-2 and Shafer prevailed 3-1 in a match with Dan Sills at six, taking games three and four 9-2 and 9-4 after a split in the first two games.

 

Ross and Hamilton's Rick Munschauer played a great match at seven in the Hamilton match with Ross rallying from two down to win 8-10, 5-9, 9-4, 9-4, 9-3. THe Saints swept matches one through five with McElvaine, Redpath, Pearson and Stout all winning 3-0 and Dodge taking a 3-1 decision.

 

The Saints will return to action at the Wesleyan Round Robin Nov. 30-Dec. 2.

 

 

SAINTS PREP FOR LIBERTY LEAGUE WITH EXHIBITION WIN

Nov. 11: St. Lawrence University’s men’s squash team tuned up for its official 2007-08 squash openers in the Liberty League tournament with a 7-2 win over Queen’s University of Ontario and a 9-0 win over the club team from the University of Vermont in exhibition matches at the Robie Squash Center on Sunday.

 

The Saints swept matches one through four against Queen's and picked up wins at six, seven and nine for the match victory. The Saint men did not lose a game in nine matches and Meg North topped UVM's lone woman player, Pearson Smith, 3-0 in the UVM match,

 

Against Queen's, Dan McElvaine won 9-5, 9-2, 9-3 at one, Alex Dodge made his collegiate debut with a 9-5, 9-3, 9-0 win at two, Tyler Stout won 9-3, 9-3, 9-3 at three and Nick Pearson was a 9-7, 9-1, 9-7 winner at four as the Saints went with a senior, two freshmen and a sophomore in their top four.

 

Senior Dan Shafer beat James Buckman 3-2 at six, winning the fifth game 9-5 after Buckman had rallied from a 2-0 deficit and Ben Ross was a 3-0 winner at seven. Nick Calandra won 3-1 at nine to complete the 7-2 win.

 

McElvaine, Dodge, Stout, Pearson, Shafer, Ross, Thomas Whelan, Pete Montesano and Martin Papp were winners against Vermont for the Saint men..

 

 

McELVAINE LEADS SAINTS INTO NEW SEASON

Nov. 6: Senior Dan McElvaine, who is destined to become the Saints’ all-time wins leader in men’s squash, will lead a rebuilding team into the 2007-2008 season when the Saints play Queens and Vermont at the Robie Squash Center Sunday, Nov. 11.

 

Three regular members of the Saint top ten graduated in May, including Jamie McAvity, the current holder of the wins record with 48, Gene Ziegler, and John Ripley, leaving coach Chris Abplanalp with new people in new spots in the lineup.

 

McElvaine, who was both Liberty League Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year as a freshman and repeated as Player of the Year as a sophomore, is a fixture in the Saint number one spot and takes a 42-18 career record into his senior season.

 

Newcomer Alex Dodge, who played number one for the Taft School last season, is likely to step in at number two while sophomore Nick Pearson, junior Scott Redpath and rookie Tyler Stout will contend for spots at the top of the lineup. Dan Shafer, who has played well in the middle of the Saint lineup also returns as does senior Nick Calandra and sophomores Ben Ross and Thomas Whelan with intercollegiate experience.

 

Other newcomers for the Saints include first year Peter Montesano and senior Martin Papp.

 

The Saints, defending Liberty League Champions, will host the 2007 tournament on Nov. 17 and 18 and will also look forward to opening their new glass-walled tenth court which should be ready for competition in January.