HAVERFORD, Pa. – The No. 35 Haverford men's squash team split a pair of matches on Saturday at the GIAC Squash Courts, taking down No. 37 Georgetown, 9-0, before falling by the same mark to visiting No. 13 Navy. Haverford sits at 11-6 on the season going into the final regular season competition next weekend. The win against Georgetown was an especially important one for the Fords against a team that figures to challenge them for seeding in the upcoming CSA Team Championships.
#35 Haverford 9, #37 Georgetown 0
The Fords got out to a fast start as Zach Cole swept by Will Russell at the sixth spot on the ladder to start the match (11-2, 11-5, 11-7).
Next, Aaron Horwitz also swept Mac Williams (11-3, 11-5, 11-7) to put the Fords up 2-0. The third match saw Keshav Kalani taking down Gaurau Premnath in four sets at the ninth spot on the ladder after dropping the first game in extra points. Kalani responded with three straight victories for a 12-14, 11-8, 11-1, 11-6 victory.
The next set of matches saw Yash Singh improve his record to 11-6 with a four-game win over Michael Ficca (11-8, 11-2, 8-11, 11-4) at the fifth spot on the ladder. Tate Miller then swept past Philip Tsien with a 12-10, 11-9, 11-7 win at the second spot, clinching the match for Haverford.
Shilin Jog got the best of Will Simon in an 11-7, 11-9, 11-8 sweep at the eighth spot on the ladder and Ryan Dukarm pushed his record to 11-6 with a win over Rory Colburn at the seventh spot on the ladder (11-5, 11-9, 11-6).
Alex Liu was pushed to five games by Armaan Arora, dropping the first two games before recovering with three straight victories in a 10-12, 9-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-7 win and Peter Dudley outlasted Nicholas Bowe in four at number one (11-5, 11-6, 7-11, 11-6).
#13 Navy 9, #35 Haverford 0
In the second match of the day, The Fords struggled against a formidable opponent in Navy, the No. 13 ranked program in the nation. Horwitz took Owen Davis to an 11-9 third game at the third position on the ladder while Jack Herold was tested by Peter Dudley. Dudley took Herold to an 11-8 third game at the number one spot on the ladder.
Several Haverford players are now on target for upcoming milestones as Horwitz will enter the top five in career singles victories with his next win. Horwitz has 31 career victories in four seasons as a member of the Fords.
Just behind the senior is Cole who has 30 career wins in just three seasons. Elsewhere, Singh and Dukarm each have 11 singles victories each and are within striking distance of the single-season mark set by Tim Saint '02 (14).
Haverford will next return to action on Saturday, February 11, taking on No. 32 Boston College (10:30 a.m.) and No. 34 Bucknell (3:30 p.m.). The matches will represent Senior Day at the GIAC Squash Courts as Horwitz will play his last matches at home.