Trinity, which has been ranked No. 1 every week of the season, as well as the past four seasons, boasts an 87-match winning streak dating back to 1998 entering the Championships after an 8-1 triumph over No. 2 Princeton on Saturday. The Bantams, coached by Paul Assaiante (9^{th season, 145-10)}, have captured the last four Team Championship (Potter Trophy) titles.

Combined with the Trinity women’s squad, which has won the last two CSA Women’s Team Championships, and national titles by Trinity male and female players in last year’s CSA Singles Championships, the Bantams have won the last five national championship honors in intercollegiate squash. With wins by the Trinity men this weekend and by defending champions Amina Helal (Manchester, England) and Bernardo Samper (Bogota, Colombia) next weekend at the CSA Singles Championship Tournament at Trinity, the Bantams will sweep the championships for the second consecutive season.

The Bantams have dominated their competition once again this season, as its players have won 142 of their 144 individual matches. Samper is undefeated in his four matches this season, 23-0 in his career, and is the nation’s top-ranked player. Trinity senior Thaddeus Roberts (Philadelphia, Pa.) has the best record on the team with a perfect 12-0 mark, while classmate Carl Baglio (Toronto, Ontario) is 10-0 and freshman Yvain Badan (Lausanne, Switzerland), the No. 13 player in the nation, is 9-0. Roberts, Baglio, and senior co-captains Nicholas Kyme (Pembroke, Bermuda) and Jonathan Smith (Leeds, England), ranked No. 10 and No. 19 in the nation, respectively, are vying to become the second straight Trinity graduating class to play their entire four years without losing a single match.

With such a talented and deep roster, Coach Assaiante has utilized an ever-changing line-up of players throughout the season. Samper will play No. 1 at Princeton, but has seen his fiercest competition of the season in practice from junior No. 2 Michael Ferreira (Stamford, England), who is ranked No. 5 in the nation. The remaining players include, in order, Kyme, Badan, sophomore Regardt Schonborn (Bloemfontein, South Africa), ranked No. 14 in the nation, junior Nadeem Osman (Port Elizabeth, South Africa), Smith, junior Patrick Malloy (Boston, Mass.) and Baglio with freshman Jacques Swanipoel (Bloemfontein, South Africa) waiting in the wings at No. 10.

The Potter Trophy consists of the top eight teams in intercollegiate squash in a three-round, single elimination tournament. Trinity will play No. 8 Dartmouth in the first round on Fri., Feb. 21 at 10:30 a.m. The Bantams blanked Dartmouth, 9-0, during the season. Princeton is seeded No. 2 and will play No. 7 Pennsylvania, while Yale and Harvard face off today in Cambridge, Mass. with the winner taking the No. 3 seed. The loser of that match will play No. 5 Western Ontario, and the winner will tackle No. 6 Cornell. Trinity’s semi-final match will be on Sat., Feb. 22 at 2:30 p.m. and the finals will be Sun., Feb. 23 at noon. All Potter Trophy matches will be held at Princeton.