If you walked by the action on Courts 5, 6 & 7 at the Brady Squash Center in New Haven on December 7th, and watched Team captain Lissen Tutrone battle Albany Club Pro Pete Avitable, while being cheered on by her squad of “Squirts” (junior players Sam Conant, Dylan Murray, Taylor Tutrone and Michael East) you saw imperical evidence why the U.S. Team Championships is fast becoming one of the most enjoyable and eagerly anticipated events on the US Squash calender. The scene was a microcosm of the weekend at Yale University, as four women’s teams, five junior teams and two co-ed squads compete alongside five men’s teams for the 5.5 Championship. Watching the likes of 16 year old Julie Cerullo take on Lancasters Trex Profit , or highly ranked junior Dylan Murray battle Yale’s Women’s team member Sarah Barenbaum,
was the rule rather than the exception, as players took full advantage of the opportunity to test themselves against a diversity of skill levels while competing for a National Team title.
In the end, the squad from Lake Forest, including Shiraz Butt, Rahul Singh, William Nau , Sid Singh and Marian Kraus, fought their way through this maze of squash diversity to reach the finals before falling 5-0 to the Yale Men’s C squad, made up Billy Hatch, Michael Maruca, Ethan Oetter, Rusty Feldman and Christopher Reid.
The 6.5 draw saw teams comprised of top rated juniors, highly ranked college squads, alumni and club pros attempting to knock off the defending champions from Hartford, led by captain Mick Robberds, Jaques Swanepol, Daniel Sharplin, Reggie Schonborn and Ben Howell. Hartford had an easy go of it till the finals where they found a determined Princeton University team waiting. Experience prevailed as Robberds, current head professional at the Hartford Golf club, called on all of his skills to finally subdue Hesham Al Hallaby at No. 3 in a wildly entertaining glass court matchup that irreversibly swung the momentum over to Hartford.
While Hartford and Yale walked away with the hardware at this year’s Team Championships, squash was the real winner as this tournament continues to evolve into one of the most unique on the US Championship schedule.
