SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. – Though finishing the day with a pair of losses, the 43rd-ranked Haverford College men's squash team proved to be a tough out for its opponents during a 9-0 loss to the University of Western Ontario, ranked No. 9 in the nation, and a 6-3 loss to 34th-ranked Northeastern University during day two of the Pioneer Valley Invitational.
Nearly all the matches in the loss to Western Ontario (5-2) were battles for the highly-ranked Mustangs. The Fords' Aaron Horwitz grew stronger as his match progressed during an 11-3, 11-6, 11-9 loss to UWO's James Van Staveren at No. 2. Bret Marlowe pushed back from an opening-game 11-2 loss to the Mustangs' Krishan Rana, forcing Rana to rally in the second-half of games two and three before he was able to down the pesky Marlowe, 11-6 and 11-6 for the win.
Marlowe won the first point of the day for Haverford in his match against Northeastern's Joakim Karlsson. The Haverford senior swept past Karlsson, 11-3, 11-5 and 11-5, for a point at No. 9 to cut in half an early 2-0 deficit to the Huskies who had captured points at Nos. 6 and 3 prior to Marlowe's finish.
Jonathan Nguyen added another win for the Fords with a hard-fought victory over the Huskies' Louie Sitwell at No. 7. Nguyen squeaked out an 11-9 win in the first game before taking game two by an 11-7 score and using the momentum from his two-game lead to finish off Sitwell, 11-6, in the third.
Nathan Vestrich-Shade earned Haverford's third point of the match with a win by default at the No. 1 spot.
The Fords (1-7) conclude their swing into New England with a Sunday match against 37th-ranked Tufts University in a neutral-site contest at Yale at 11 a.m.