NEW HAVEN, Conn.—The Hobart squash team pulled off a surprising upset in the first round of the Hoehn Trophy competition this morning at Yale's Brady Squash Center. The 15th-ranked Statesmen knocked off 10th-ranked Brown, 5-4.
The Hoehn Trophy is the second division, teams nine through 16, of the College Squash Association National Championships. Thirty-eight collegiate squash teams are competing in five divisions this weekend.
Hobart won just two of the top five matches—sophomore
Gavin Johnstone-Butcher (St. Paul's School/Bulawayo, Zimbabwe) prevailed at No. 3 and junior
Henry Clutsam (Blair Academy/New Vernon, N.J.) won at No. 4—but the bottom of the lineup came through with three 3-1 victories to propel the Statesmen into the semifinals.
Junior
Freddy Cook (St. George's School/Greenwich, Conn.), first-year
Andy Conrad (Millbrook School/Haverford, Pa.), and senior
Richard Reutter (Woodberry Forest/Annapolis, Md.) produced the crucial victories at Nos. 7-9. Both Cook and Reutter dropped their first set, before rallying to take the next three.
The win raises Hobart's record to 14-8 overall, the highest win total in the program's 38 varsity seasons. It also marks the first time this season that the Statesmen have triumphed over a higher ranked team. Hobart was 0-8 this year against higher ranked teams.
The Statesmen will face the winner of this afternoon's Amherst/Franklin & Marshall match, at 2:30 p.m., on Feb. 28. The match will be contested at Choate Rosemary Hall's Johnson Athletic Center in Wallingford.
HOBART 5, Brown 4
1 Breck Bailey (B) def. Tejvir Rathore, 3-1 (9-4 7-9 9-5 9-6)
2 Dan Petrie (B) def. Prateek Patni, 3-0 (9-2 9-1 9-3)
3 Gavin Johnstone-Butcher (H) def. Sean O'Boyle, 3-0 (9-7 9-1 9-5)
4 Henry Clutsam (H) def. David Krupnick, 3-0 (9-5 10-8 10-8)
5 Jay Beidler (B) def. Andrew Scott, 3-2 (10-8 3-9 9-3 2-9 9-4)
6 Patrick Haynes (B) def. Tucker Crockett, 3-0 (9-5 9-2 9-6)
7 Freddy Cook (H) def. Brian Rifkin, 3-1 (4-9 9-5 10-9 9-7)
8 Andy Conrad (H) def. Mark Goldburg, 3-1 (9-6 1-9 9-3 9-7)
9 Richard Reutter (H) def. Aaron Rosenthal, 3-1 (4-9 9-2 9-6 9-1)
—HWS SPORTS—
