CARLISLE, Pa. – The Haverford College men's squash team traveled to the Carlisle, Pa. for the Dickinson Round Robin on Saturday. In its final action on the road before the team heads to the College Squash Association Team Championships, the Fords came up just one win short of a victory against Johns Hopkins before falling to the host Red Devils.
In the match against Johns Hopkins, the two sides contested three matches that went to a fifth game. The Blue Jays' 2-1 record in those matches proved crucial to upending the Fords by the 5-4 score. Zach Cole pulled through in the five-game win for the Fords at No. 6 to help his team's efforts. Cole went up 1-0 and eventually 2-1 before his opponent answered each time. Cole took the match by claiming an 11-5 win in the fifth game.
Haverford controlled the bottom portion of the ladder as both Jonathan Nguyen and Ryan Dukarm also found success. In a match that saw just two contests decided in three games, Dukarm was a winner in such fashion for Haverford at No. 9. After quickly going up 2-0, Dukarm closed his victory with an 11-4 third game – his most convincing win of the afternoon.
Nguyen was one of two winners in four games for the Fords. Playing at No. 8, he got a quick 2-0 lead before a hard-fought 12-10 game went to his opponent. Nonetheless, he bounced back with an 11-4 fourth game to clinch his match. The Fords' highest ranked win came from Peter Dudley. Playing at No. 2, Dudley split has first two games before rolling off 11-7 and 11-8 wins.
The Blue Jays' big five game wins came at No. 1 and No. 8. In the top position, Nathan Vestrich-Shade took the first game by an 11-5 score and forced a decisive game with an 11-8 score in the fourth game before his opponent prevailed in five. Alex Liu had 1-0 and 2-1 leads in his match at No. 8 before the Blue Jay rallied for the final two games. Johns Hopkins also had 3-1 victories at Nos. 4 and 5 that were each tied at one game early on.
In the match against Dickinson, the host Red Devils showed strength throughout the ladder in a 9-0 victory. Cole was able to take the first game against his Dickinson foe in a hard-fought 12-10 win before falling in four games. Both Liu and Dukarm were denied in decisive fifth games. Liu rallied to tie his match with wins in the second and fourth games before an 11-5 fifth game went to his opponent. Dukarm won the first and third games before coming up on the wrong side of an 11-7 score in game five.
Haverford did win an exhibition match against Dickinson at No. 10 where Alex Egilman was victorious in four. Egilman was just edged out in an extra point opening game, 12-10. However, he responded with 11-2 and 11-3 wins in games two and three to put himself in position to win. He would do just that with an 11-5 advantage in the fourth game.
Men's squash will now have three home matches before finding out its final ranking for the team championships. The first of those matches will be Thursday at 6:30 p.m. against Lehigh on the GIAC Squash Courts.