Oxford vs Cambridge Annual Squash Varsity Match 2023
Saturday, 18 February 2023 at the Royal Automobile Club, London
Report written by Scyan Zafar (OUSRC President 2022-23)
[TLDR at the end]
It was an atmospheric day at the RAC for the 77th Women’s and the 91st Men’s Varsity Squash Match against our old rivals. Whilst it was awe-inspiring to be inside the “home of squash”, with the walls covered by names and pictures of many of the greatest players in squash history, the first-time visitors were also taken aback by the extreme humidity from being in such close proximity to the swimming pool. Cambridge had already started with their sneaky mind games to try and unnerve the Oxford players by misstating the name of our club on the varsity brochure as “Oxford University Squash and Racquets Club”, though perhaps the only person they managed to annoy was the Oxford President, who cares a bit too much about such tiny details. (And, in fairness to Cambridge, our own side had made the same mistake last year!)
The women’s matches kicked off at 1:30pm, getting off to a fighting start, with the Oxford reserve Nadia Stapenell (Worcester) and 5th seed Natalie Shah (Christ Church) facing Cambridge’s Ella Jennings (Queens’) and Hannah Taylor (Gonville and Caius) on courts 2 and 1 respectively.
Nadia and Ella were pretty evenly matched in the first game up to 4-4, before Nadia turned on the power mode and smashed her opponent 9-4 without any further changes of serve. The second game also looked pretty one-sided as Nadia took an early 6-1 lead, but then Ella started fighting back. However, despite having the serve quite a few times, Ella didn’t manage to convert most of them, and Nadia took the second game 9-3. With the games 2-0 in Nadia’s favour, Ella made a comeback by taking the third game 9-1. The score does not tell the full story, though, since Nadia won ten rallies in the third game, just not on her own serve, which is one of the quirks of the traditional scoring system. It was looking like a pretty even contest going into the fourth game. Indeed, after Nadia failed to convert two match balls at 8-6, the score reached 8-8 and could have gone either way. However, Nadia took the fourth game 10-8, scoring the first and only women’s win for Oxford on the day. If this hadn’t been a reserves’ match, Nadia may well have bagged the woman of the match trophy through her great performance.
Meanwhile on court 1, Natalie was also pretty evenly matched against Hannah, though both players looked somewhat nervous towards the start, this being the first Blues’ Varsity appearance for both. Natalie got off to a strong start, winning 9-4 in a relatively short first game. However, Hannah bounced back and took the second game 9-2. By now, both players seemed to have settled into the game, and it was gearing up to be a pretty exciting contest. In the third (and longest) game of the match, Natalie took an early lead, going up to 6-1; but then Hannah fired back, scoring five points in rapid succession, making the score level at 6-6. It was looking like anybody’s game at 7-7, but Natalie pulled through and took the third game 9-7. Some signs of fatigue were visible in both players by the fourth game, though the rallies were still exciting. Hannah came out stronger and took the fourth game 9-3, making the match 2-2. By this point, Natalie looked visibly tired and seemed to be struggling; and after a strong fight from Natalie up to the 3-4 mark, Hannah’s superior fitness won the day. Natalie managed to stave off two match balls at 8-3 and 8-4, but eventually went down 9-4 in the fifth game. However, despite the outcome, this match was a treat to watch, and Natalie deservedly took home the Oxford woman of the match trophy.
The remaining matches turned out to be much tougher for the Oxford women, as Cambridge simply had a much stronger side. Playing at 4th seed, Mei Whattam (Somerville), the Oxford captain, was up against Juliana Ganendra (Downing), the Cambridge captain, both making their second Blues’ Varsity appearances. Mei took an early lead in the first game, firing away a quick four points in succession and taking the score to 4-0. However, Juliana fought back and eventually took the first game 9-6. The remaining games also went 9-1 and 9-2 in Juliana’s favour. Oxford’s 3rd seed Grace Beglan (Merton), making her first Blues’ Varsity appearance, was likewise outmatched by Cambridge’s Pierson Klein (Selwyn). Despite putting up a brave fight, Grace went down 9-4, 9-4 in the first two games, and 9-0 in the third game against a stronger opponent.
At 2nd seed, first year Oxford undergraduate Aria Appoo (LMH) was up against Cambridge veteran Hannah Blythe (Trinity Hall), making her third Blues’ Varsity appearance, who has a formidable 2,000+ level on SquashLevels.com. And at first seed, Oxford’s Ruby Wood (Keble) was once again facing Cambridge’s Ellie White (Queens’), this being their second Blues’ Varsity encounter against each other in as many years. Ellie, boasting a SquashLevels.com level close to 3,000, is known (according to the Cambridge Instagram page) for “beating the men (at squash)”. Both matches went 3-0 to Cambridge, who won the day 5-0.
The overall women’s results were:
1. Ruby Wood (Keble) lost Eleanor White (Queens’): 0-9, 0-9, 0-9
2. Aria Appoo (LMH) lost Hannah Blythe (Trinity Hall): 3-9, 0-9, 0-9
3. Grace Beglan (Merton) lost Pierson Klein (Selwyn): 4-9, 4-9, 0-9
4. Mei Whattam (Somerville, captain) lost Juliana Ganendra (Downing, captain): 6-9, 1-9, 2-9
5. Natalie Shah (Christ Church) lost Hannah Taylor (Gonville and Caius): 9-4, 2-9, 9-7, 3-9, 4-9
R. Nadia Stapenell (Worcester) beat Ella Jennings (Queens’): 9-4, 9-3, 1-9, 10-8
After a short break, it was time for the men’s matches to start at 4pm. On court 2, Oxford reserve Trajan Halvorsen (Merton) faced Cambridge’s Anant Gupta (Fitzwilliam) in what turned out to be a nearly hour-long match. The first game saw Anant take a 7-0 lead after many long and fiercely fought rallies. Trajan had the serve five times, but did not manage to convert it into a point earlier in the game. However, he fought back hard, saving four game balls, before eventually going down 9-4 in the first game. The second game started off equally competitive, and it looked like it was anybody’s game when Trajan was serving at 4-5, but then Anant won the next five rallies in succession to seal the score at 9-4 once again. The third game started off as almost the opposite of the first, with Anant failing to convert his serves into points early in the game, and Trajan taking a 4-0 lead. However, Anant fought back, saving a game ball at 8-6, and levelling up the score at 8-8. It was a nail-biting finish, with Trajan having to save two match balls at 9-8, before levelling back up at 9-9, and sealing his victory in the third game at 10-9. Trajan took an early lead in the fourth game at 5-1, but Anant won five rallies in succession to level up the score at 5-5. After a couple of changes of hand, with the score at 6-6, Anant emerged as the superior player, taking the next three points home and winning 9-6 in the fourth game.
Meanwhile on court 1, Oxford’s 5th seed and captain Sam Greenrod (Magdalen), in his debut Blues’ Varsity (having been forced to pull out last year due to illness), was facing Cambridge’s Isaac Milford (Selwyn) making his second Blues’ Varsity appearance. Sam seemed a little nervous at the start, making a few unforced errors that he normally wouldn’t, and was down 7-1. However, he powered through the next five rallies in succession to bring the score up to 5-7, though it wasn’t enough as he went down 9-5 in the first game. The second game saw Sam as the stronger player at the start, taking an early lead at 4-0. However, Isaac levelled up at 4-4, and from that point on it was a pretty even contest with many changes of hand and the score still level at 6-6. Isaac eventually emerged stronger, taking the second game 9-6, though signs of fatigue were starting to show. The third game again saw Sam take an early lead at 5-1, but the rallies were hard-fought and Isaac managed to bring the score back up to 5-5. Isaac was starting to look quite fatigued by now, but then something quite unusual happened: someone in the viewing gallery on the right side dropped their pint glass into the court! Luckily it wasn’t mid-rally, and the glass didn’t hit any of the players, but the players were forced to take a 10-minute break while the shattered glass and spilt drink were cleaned up. Who knows whether things might have gone Sam’s way if this hadn’t happened, but a well-rested Isaac came back to take the third game 9-5.
Oxford’s 4th seed Kieren Tan (Harris Manchester) made his first Blues’ Varsity appearance on court 2 following Trajan vs Anant, facing off with Cambridge’s Matthew Wong (Fitzwilliam) in his second Blues’ Varsity. The encounter was as close as it gets in the first game, until Kieren pulled ahead and had game ball at 8-5. However, Matthew won the next four points and turned the tables on Kieren with game ball at 9-8. Another nail-biting finish ensued, with two changes of hand at 9-9, but Kieren managed to seal the win at 10-9. The second game started with an equally close battle, and it took absolutely ages before either player could score more than two points. As exciting as this was, it seemed to take its toll on Kieren who, from 4-2 up, went down 9-4 in the third game. The remaining two games also went 9-2 and 9-0 in Matthew’s favour. The match lasted 48 minutes.
James McCouat (St Hugh’s), last year’s Oxford Men’s Blues’ Captain and club President, preparing for his 3rd seed match against Cambridge’s Alex Cope (Wolfson), caused a great deal of distress to this year’s club President by forgetting to bring his Varsity T-shirt. He did not forget his Varsity shorts, mind you, only the T-shirt, but still had another white T-shirt that he could use, which is all highly suspicious! This caused Yours Truly to remark, “You’d better redeem yourself through your performance!” With two prior Varsity wins already under his belt, James’ match was always going to be an exciting affair; but – upon my word – the epic 76-minute five-game marathon that ensued was a thing of beauty! Reminiscent of the classic era of the great JKs of Pakistan, it was a masterclass in orthodox attritional play down the sidewalls, and may as well have been two top squash pros playing rather than club players.
James went down 9-2 in the first game, but the score does not tell the whole story. Despite serving multiple times in the first game, James did not manage to convert most of them into a point, as his still-fresh opponent had the better of him. However, the rallies were consistently long, with both players frequently making each other sprint from back to front and back again. It was a retrievers’ game without too much shot-making. The second game started off similarly, and some of the rallies (if we had been counting) could well have been over 100 shots long. One rally in particular, perhaps the longest one of the match, seemed to have taken its toll on Alex, as James started pulling ahead and took the lead at 7-3. However, Alex still had some fight left in him, and recovered to have game ball at 8-7. James managed to save two game balls, but eventually went down 10-8 after 22 minutes in the second game.
With James down two games, the match seemed to be going in Alex’s favour. However, the super long rallies had indeed taken their toll on Alex, as he couldn’t keep up with James’ endless stores of energy. James, quite like a young Jansher, just seemed able to return virtually everything Alex threw at him, and took the next two games 9-1, levelling up the score going into the deciding fifth game. Alex bounced back in the fifth game with renewed vigour, and the score was pretty much at par up to 6-6. Even James was showing signs of fatigue now, and some of the points had both players bent double catching their breath. The traditional format favours the fitter player, though, and James emerged superior, frustrating Alex’s efforts and sealing his victory in a spectacular display of squash at 9-6 in the fifth game, taking home a well-earned Oxford man of the match trophy.
With the tally now at 2-1 in Cambridge’s favour, Oxford needed to win both the remaining matches in order to take home the winner’s trophy. Oxford’s 2nd seed Eliot Heywood (Trinity) did not have luck on his side, though, as he faced the Cambridge captain Benjamin Adams (Corpus Christi) on court 2. It looked like an even contest at the start, but Benjamin got the better of Eliot and took the lead at 8-2. Eliot managed to save two game balls before going down 9-5 in the first game. The second game was rather one-sided as Benjamin won 9-0. Eliot managed to put up a strong fight in the third game, but was outmatched and went down 9-7.
Meanwhile on court 1, Oxford’s top seed Ben Harrison (St Catz) made his Blues’ Varsity debut, having been unable to play last year as he was recovering from injury, against the Cambridge top seed Gustav Runersjö (Hughes Hall). It was a fairly evenly matched encounter lasting 49 minutes, with many exciting rallies won by both players, though the individual game scores might suggest otherwise. Power-hitter Gustav had the upper hand in the first game, winning comfortably 9-1, while Ben got the better of him with an equally comfortable 9-3 win in the second game. However, Gustav went on to win the remaining two games 9-3, finishing the day with a 4-1 victory for Cambridge over Oxford.
The overall men’s results were:
1. Ben Harrison (St Catz) lost Gustav Runersjö (Hughes Hall): 1-9, 9-3, 3-9, 3-9
2. Eliot Heywood (Trinity) lost Benjamin Adams (Corpus Christi, captain): 5-9, 0-9, 7-9
3. James McCouat (St Hugh’s) beat Alexander Cope (Wolfson): 2-9, 8-10, 9-1, 9-1, 9-6
4. Kieran Tan (Harris Manchester) lost Matthew Wong (Fitzwilliam): 10-9, 4-9, 2-9, 0-9
5. Samuel Greenrod (Magdalen, captain) lost Isaac Milford (Selwyn): 5-9, 6-9, 5-9
R. Trajan Halvorsen (Merton) lost Anant Gupta (Fitzwilliam): 4-9, 4-9, 10-9, 6-9
On a side note, the Oxford woman of the match was selected by last year’s winner Alethea Lee, and the Oxford man of the match was selected by eight-time Varsity veteran Tom Paine. However, if only last year’s winner Tim Delport had shown up (like he’d said he would) the privilege would have been his!
TLDR: Cambridge women beat Oxford 5-0, though lost the reserve match. Cambridge men beat Oxford 4-1, and also won the reserve match. The Oxford woman and man of the match were, respectively, Natalie Shah (who lost in 5 games) and James McCouat (who won in 5 games).
