The U of T squash team isn’t on death row, but they’re close. After dropping to second in the eastern conference last weekend, the boys will likely face Western in the OUA semi-finals.

Western, of course, has been judge, jury and executioner for the last two decades with 18 straight OUA team championships in men’s squash.

The weekend tournament started out on the right track, with the Blues handily defeating McGill on Saturday morning and Ryerson the night before to win a combined 11 of 12. However, it was a different story against the Golden Gaels as Queen’s took four out of the six matches in the tie (the term used in squash for a head-to-head series).

The Gaels posted a 16-2 record at the tournament, losing their only matches to U of T players after sweeping both the Rams and Redmen.

“They were a couple of players short and not at full strength, so yes, it was a little disappointing,” said U of T head coach Paul Lee on the loss.

Saturday morning the Blues easily defeated McGill 5-1, but the one match they lost in a battle of number one seeds did not sit well with Lee, as U of T’s top ranked player Ryan Son Kee lost 3-1.

“He didn’t come to the court prepared to play. He’d played this same player from McGill earlier in the season and beat him quite easily,” explained Lee. “You can’t come out at this level unprepared and expect to win easily.”

The final scoreline in that match read 2-9, 9-7, 9-4, 10-9 in favour of his McGill opponent.

Son Kee bounced back in his afternoon showdown against Queen’s’ top player and, motivated by his bad defeat in the morning, trounced his opponent in straight games, 9-7, 9-1, 9-6. Son Kee explained what he improved on in his match against the Gaels.

“I hit my shots tighter. When I do that it allows me to hit the ball deeper and that way I can use more of the court.”

Son Kee took the summer off from playing squash after his first season with the Blues last year and thinks that might have something to do with why he has to reach his peak performance this season.

“I’m still working my way back,” said Son Kee. “I expect by February things will be a lot better.”

This past weekend’s tournament was the last before a break for exams and holidays.

Then the season will resume with one more tournament in January before the playoffs. U of T will host both the men’s and women’s team championships on Saturday, February 9.