By Gilly Lane
Photos by Steve Line/SquashPics.com
For two years the goal of the U.S. Men’s National Team was to finish top-8 in the World Team Championships. Two years ago, the team came up short in the round of 16 against an up and coming South African team, losing 2-1 in just over four hours. It was then that we realized our potential as a team and knew that we had a great shot of finishing top-8 in the following World Championships.
The campaign got off to a rocky start before the tournament even began. Head Coach Chris Walker was diagnosed with an aneurysm in his stomach and would need surgery right away to repair it, thus not being able to travel with the team. Chris wasn’t the only coach with a scare, as director of National Teams, Paul Assaiante, had a minor heart attack just three weeks prior to the start of the tournament. Lastly, I had been struggling with a disc disease in my back since the end of July and didn’t know how it was going to hold up with a week of tough competition.
Adversity, however, can bring teams together. Knowing that we had to be more together than ever to achieve our goal, the team of Julian Illingworth, Chris Gordon, recently crowned Collegiate champion Todd Harrity, myself, and coaches Paul Assaiante and Gareth Webber (filling in for Chris Walker) left with the same goal of a top 8-finish.
The pool stages started with us still not knowing whether I would be able to play in the pool round. We were seeded 8th in the event and the No. 1 seed in our group, along with Italy, Switzerland, and the Ukraine. Many thought this pool was one of the toughest with Switzerland being a tricky test for the team as they have a strong No. 1 in Nicolas Mueller and squash legend John Williams at No. 3.
We breezed by our first tie with the Ukraine with Julian, Chris, and Todd (playing in his first world teams) all winning 3-0 with relative ease. It was a nice way to start the tournament as the players got used to hot conditions in Paderborn and played their way into the tournament.
The coaches now had a big decision to make as Switzerland provided us with a tricky situation—whether to continue to play Todd or insert me into the lineup for my first match in over a month. Coach Assaiante (who has a knack for making correct decisions, as he is the most successful coach in college squash history) inserted me into the lineup, giving us our strongest team on paper. The importance of this match was huge in that if we won, we would be on to the round of 16 automatically. A loss, however, meant that we would have to beat a feisty Italian team the next day to qualify for the knockout stage.
The match against Switzerland didn’t start well. Julian had beaten Mueller just two weeks prior in the Australian Open, but it seemed that Mueller was out for revenge. Julian started slow while Mueller was on fire. Before we knew it, Switzerland was 1-0 in matches with a 3-0 win at the No. 1 position. I went on next and was able to withstand the back pain that had been giving me so much trouble, and won 3-0 to level the tie at 1-1 (It would be my last match as I was clearly not ready, physically, to play). Chris Gordon went on the court knowing exactly what he had to do to keep our top-8 chances alive, and he played sublime squash, moving veteran Johnny Williams all over the court in the first two games to take a two games to nil lead. Williams fought back to win the third and was looking very positive in the fourth. But after some tough rallies late in the fourth, Chris managed to get a small lead and finished out the match on a no let call that left the Swiss angered and bound for the 17-32 playoffs.
Our next match against Italy pitted the No. 8 seeds against the No. 9 seeds for 1st place in our group. The match was played in great spirits, but it was evident from the get go that both teams were looking forward to the Round of 16 where, as people say, “the real tournament begins.” Todd started well, winning the first game against former top 50 player Amr Swelim, but he was unable to sustain the effort in the third and fourth and lost a tight 3-1 contest. Chris gave it his all the day after a very tough match against Switzerland, but savvy veteran Marcus Berrett used his lob drop game to perfection to win a comfortable 3-0 match and give the tie to Italy, 2-0.
The loss meant that we would face our neighbors to the north, Canada, in a battle of the border match for a top-8 finish. The night before, the coaches and team were faced with a dilemma in which lineup to play against the Canadians. Coach Assaiante and Weber, after thinking long and hard, could not in their right mind play me in the condition I was in. At dinner, Coach Assaiante said to the team, “I don’t want to put us in a situation where Gilly is playing at 50%. Todd, you are playing tomorrow, and you are going to win.” The confidence of that statement by Coach Assaiante gave us the belief that great things were going to happen.
Todd started well against Canada, sneaking a very tight first game with up and comer Andrew Schnell. This gave Todd confidence as he attacked more and more in the second, putting Schnell under tons of pressure. Leading 2-0, Todd went through a lapse in concentration and Schnell pulled a game back giving the Canadians hopes of recovering. But it wasn’t meant to be as Todd pushed hard at the beginning of the fourth game, racing out to a 9-0 lead and finally capturing it 11-4. 1-0 USA!
Julian went on next against Shahier Razik. These two have played numerous times on the PSA tour with the matches usually going back and forth. Razik stared out brilliantly, while Julian was slow to get going, and raced out to a 2-0 lead leaving Julian dumbfounded and a bit lost at what to do. But something changed at the beginning of the third. Julian couldn’t miss to the front of the court and Razik seemed to hit a wall physically. Quickly winning the third and fourth games, Julian continued to push in the fifth when he raced out to a quick lead. Up 10-4, the team was ready to rush the court in jubilation—which we did after Julian played another winner to the front left corner to clinch the match. 2-0 to Team USA, and a birth in the quarterfinals against Egypt.
The task against Egypt would be a tall one as they were the defending World Team Champions and our team was coming off an emotionally tough contest the day before. The Egyptians showed their class and won the tie after the first two matches. However, Chris took World No. 9, Mohammed El Shorbagy, to 11-9 in the first two games before losing a tight 3-0.
With no rest for the weary, the Malaysians were up next. With myself out for the rest of the tournament Julian, Chris, and Todd had not had a day off in four days and it was evident that it was beginning to take its toll. The experienced Malaysian team, led by perennial top-15 players Azlan Iskander and Ong Beng Hee, showed their class in dispatching Julian and Chris 3-0 and 3-1 respectively matching us against India for 7th and 8th place.
Todd started us off brilliantly again, as he did against Canada, and pulled out a tough 3-2 win against a young Indian player who had been fresh and hungry as he didn’t play much throughout the tournament. And much like the match against Canada, Julian had a chance to win the tie for us. Though he started off slowly against Saurav Ghosal, losing the first, Julian regained his focus and, with a renewed spirit, went out and did what he does best—attack. Saurav, looking weary from a long week of playing, looked frustrated, and Julian capitalized by moving Saurav around relentlessly to win the next three games for a 3-1 win and 2-0 victory over India—securing a 7th place finish which was our highest since 1983.
Adversity sometimes brings people and teams together. It was clearly evident with the incidents before the start of the tournament that the only way we would survive this trip was to come together and to play for and support each other to the best of our ability. Coach Assaiante and Weber created a great atmosphere around the team and we wanted to not only win for the US, but for each other. It was one of the best team environments I have ever been around, and I am so proud to have said that I was a part of this team that represented our country so well.
