4-7 December 2008:
Challenging First Trip to Hamilton Ends on High Note
The Stanford Men's Squash team set out early morning on Thursday the 4th for the long-awaited trip to Hamilton College in New York. Wyatt set his alarm at five thirty, but instead woke up at six when Spencer called him to ask "where are we supposed to meet?" Dazed, Wyatt brushed his teeth, put on a nice shirt and a jacket, and finished his outfit with a pair of flip-flops. The Super-shuttle ride to the airport was fine. We had overpriced, but delicious breakfast at the airport. Soon enough we were flying towards New York with barely enough time to go to the bathroom. Despite six and a half hours of flight time, the team found means of entertainment in the fact that United Airlines had employed a chatty blonde by the name of Stephnie as one of their valued flight attendants. Freshman Derek 'sweet pea' Rowley and junior Ananth 'woo' Sridhar had some interesting conversations with Stephnie mid flight and were fortunate to discover that she was also employed as a stripper, with the sensuous title 'Peachez.' In addition, Dave 'Big Swiss' Israelachvilli and sophomore Greg Hertz engaged in a riveting conversation somehow linking existentialism, communism, and our own David's famed girl problems. After a long day of travel, the team was relieved to arrive in Syracuse with all bags in hand and few were even fortunate enough to enjoy the privacy offered by the restrooms in the well-equipped airport.
Stanford's first match was against St. Lawrence on Friday afternoon. Stanford men, stiff from the 12 hour journey, warmed up on the courts couple hours before their first match. The introductions began with the newest nicknames, including "Peaches" for Ananth, Watermonster" for Spencer, and "Coldfeet" for Wyatt and his sandals. Greg assumed two identities to play both their number ten (Budget) and eleven (The Philosopher). It turns out that they were much better than us, as expected. We lost 0-9.
The ensuing match pitted the tired Stanford team against the host team, #19 Hamilton College. Noise from the drunk Hamilton fans filled the courts for the entire evening. Pat Bugas, at number two, experienced painful cramps with the match in hand and unfortunately couldn't recover, leading to an unfortunate loss in the fifth game. The crowd could see that Sam Gould was exhausted from his long match against St. Lawrence to play another good match. Stanford lost 0-9, but won many more games than the previous match.
The next day, F&M swept us away 0-9, although Spencer King provided our first win of the weekend at number ten. We could not leave without a win. Colgate, our final opponent, prevented such unfortunate happening. Stanford took the match 6-3. After two demanding days of squash, the exhausted men's team couldn't muster the energy to explore Hamilton's campus later that night and decided to get some rest before a long day of travel. On the flight back, the team's newest member Teddy 'bear' Bowers, delivered a humbling announcement alerting passengers that the one and only Sir Mark Talbott was also on the flight. The announcement garnered a couple of autographs for some lucky fans and soon after the team returned to campus in preparation for a long week of final exams.