NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Although Yale managed to improve on its regular season result, the Bulldogs could not find a way past No. 4 Trinity in the first round of the Howe Cup national championships on Friday at the Brady Squash Center.

The Bantams had defeated the Bulldogs 8-1 in their visit to New Haven on Jan. 20; this time around, Yale landed on the short side of a 7-2 margin.

The matchup between two local schools with historically strong programs produced a good atmosphere in the Brady Squash Center as supporters of both teams made their voices heard. 

Winning matches for Yale were a pair of underclassmen: freshman Celine Yeap at No. 2 and sophomore Jocelyn Lehman at No. 8. 

Senior Shiyuan Mao nearly added another victory at No. 3, but could not come out on top of a back-and-forth match that went the distance.

Several other Bulldogs gave strong efforts, pushing matches to extra points or fourth games before falling to their opponents. 

The loss sends the Bulldogs to the consolation bracket for a meeting with No. 8 Cornell, who were swept by No. 1 Harvard. On Jan. 9, Yale defeated Cornell 9-0 when the Bulldogs hosted the Big Red.

The match will begin Saturday at 12:00 p.m. 

Report by Evan Brown '16, Yale Sports Publicity

Results: 

1. K. El Defrawy (T) def. Scherl (Y) 6-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-1

2. Yeap (Y) def. Sharaf (T) 11-8, 11-8, 11-6

3. Le Coq (T) def. Mao (Y) 11-4, 8-11, 9-11, 11-5, 11-4

4. Kimberley (T) def. Ballaine (Y) 16-14, 11-6, 11-9

5. El Defrawy (T) def. Blatchford (Y) 11-8, 12-10, 11-6

6. Haley (T) def. Davis (Y) 11-8, 13-11, 14-12

7. Balvani (T) def. Maity (Y) 11-5, 11-8, 11-6

8. Lehman (Y) def. Echeverria (T) 10-12, 11-8, 11-4, 11-4

9. Holinkova (T) def. Sherwood (Y) 11-7, 12-10, 7-11, 11-4