HARTFORD, CT – Continuing the longest winning streak in intercollegiate athletics, tiny but plucky Trinity College won its 13th consecutive National Championship in NCAA squash (called the “CSA” – Collegiate Squash Associationand its 244th straight match overall. Trinity squash has not lost since 1998.
The school of only 2,200 defeated Yale in dramatic fashion. From the Trinity College athletic website article:
“Yale held a 3-2 lead heading into the final round of games, but Trinity strung off three wins in the next four games, with their backs against the wall, to escape with victory. Junior Vikram Malholtra (Mumbai, India) tied the score at 3-3 with a 3-0 win in the No. 1 spot, before junior John Roberts (Belfast, Ireland) would put Yale back on top, 4-3, with a tight 5-set win. Sophomore Johan Detter (Malmoe, Sweden) tied the score at 4-4 with a 3-0 win of his own. In the winner-take-all final game at the No. 4 spot, Binnie responded to the pressure with a 3-1 win, giving the Bantams the dramatic triumph. Binnie fought to consecutive 11-9 wins to start the game before Dodd answered with an 11-9 win of his own. Binnie prevented Dodd from gaining momentum and forcing a fifth game, by sealing the win for the Bantams, with an 11-7 win in the fourth set to seal the win.
“This team is just a big family – nine hearts beat as one,” head coach Paul Assaiante said after the game. “Those guys never gave in. It was the most courageous group performance I’ve ever been a part of.”
The Hartford Courant also chimed in on the victory:
“This was a terrific night of squash. Not only was it No. 1 vs. No. 2 in the country, it was a rematch of the 2010 College Squash Association championship, which Trinity won, 6-3. The women’s teams, ranked No. 2 and No. 3 played, too. And after the national attention that followed an ugly blip in deportment by Trinity’s Baset Chaudhry last February, it also was a chance to reclaim the notion that squash is a sport built on sportsmanship.
Binnie would go on to finish off Naishadh Lalwani 11-9, 11-4, 9-11, 11-2, to give Trinity its clinching match. Squash is a little bit like a Turkish bazaar. Matches go on all over the place and you’re never quite sure what the team score is. As Binnie walked off the court, however, he knew what he had done. He had extended Trinity’s extraordinary winning streak to 230 matches, the longest in the history of intercollegiate varsity sports.
The Bantams will lose again. I have checked with a fortune teller and she says they will lose in the year 2525 to a team from Jupiter. Not Florida, the planet.”
Actually Kurt Vonnegut just called. He says The Sirens of Titan will distract the Bants and team from Tramalfadore “that communicate by farts and tap dancing” will do it.
In all seriousness, Coach Paul “Multo Bene!” Assiante has now presided over the greatest single run in collegiate sports history. Forza, Trinity, sempre! Campione del nazionale!
