HAVERFORD, Pa. - The No. 30 ranked Haverford men's squash team (11-1) completed its 2018-19 home slate with a dominating performance on Senior Day, taking down No. 45 Denison and No. 32 Bucknell. The Fords swept the Big Red by a 9-0 final before returning in the afternoon match to take down No. 32 Bucknell, 6-3. Prior to the match with Denison, Haverford honored the contributions of seniors Ryan Dukarm, Alex Liu, and Yash Singh. The class represents the winningest class in program history, and all three individuals rank within the Top 10 in program history in individual career wins. With two wins on Saturday, Singh is now just one win shy of tying Peter Dudley '18 for the all-time career wins lead at Haverford (46).
No. 30 Haverford 9, No. 45 Denison 0
Seven of the nine individual matches ended in sweeps for the Fords, with Aaron Witkin sweeping past Mark Taylor (11-0, 11-1, 11-2) at the ninth position to begin things for Haverford. The second match to finish featured senior Ryan Dukarm taking down Kevin Chung in straight games at the sixth flight (11-6, 11-3, 11-6). Alden Weinberg also made quick work of Hampton Massie at the eighth flight to wrap up the first round of matches (11-6, 11-0, 11-1).
The second round featured Tate Miller entrenched at the second flight, as Miller roared past Henry Rosenberg of the Big Red (11-3, 11-2, 11-2). The next match to finish featured Liu, as the senior easily dispatched Max Mehm (11-1, 11-5, 11-1) at the seventh position. Liu clinched the victory for the Fords before Singh withstood a battle from Michael Ferrick at the fifth flight. Ferrick grabbed the first game from Singh, before the senior was able to cruise to a four-game triumph (8-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-5).
Keil Reedich continued his strong debut season with a sweep of Graham Poole at the fourth flight (11-2, 11-4, 11-6), and Fitz Dougherty then was able to turn away Elliot Adland with ease (11-6, 11-1, 11-2) at the second flight.
Davis Chase brought it home for Haverford despite a strong challenge from Denison's top player, as Alvaro Magana was able to take an 11-5 victory in the first game. Chase responded with an 11-7 victory in the second, but Magana again took the third 11-6. Chase rallied for an 11-5 victory to move to the brink of the match triumph, and then cruised to an 11-1 victory in the fifth game (5-11, 11-7, 6-11, 11-5, 11-1).
Haverford improves to 2-1 all-time against Denison. The two sides had previously met in January of 2017 at the Dickinson Round Robin.
No. 30 Haverford 6, No. 32 Bucknell 3
In the late afternoon matchup, the Fords did battle with a familiar foe in Bucknell. The Bison grabbed a quick victory at the ninth flight, as Max Oliphant got the best of Witkin (11-6, 11-9, 11-8). Bucknell moved to a 2-0 lead as Jack Buendia turned away Dukarm at the sixth flight (11-6, 5-11, 11-7, 3-11, 11-9).
Weinberg grabbed a much-needed victory for the Fords at the eighth flight, outlasting a tough opponent in Rich Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald took Weinberg to five games, taking the first and third game and pushing Weinberg to extra points in the fourth (6-11, 11-3, 8-11, 12-10, 11-9).
Miller helped equalize the match at 2-2 with a convincing sweep of Delaney McFadden at the second flight (12-10, 11-7, 11-7). Miller is an unblemished 12-0 so far this season, and is the only Haverford player to register a victory in each of the team's matches this season.
Singh then gave Haverford the lead with a win over Bryan Yekelchik at the fifth flight (12-10, 11-1, 4-11, 11-6). The next match to finish featured Liu in a five-game battle with Henry Charman at the seventh flight. Charman was victorious in the see-saw fight, tying the overall match score at 3-3 with a 11-3, 7-11, 7-11, 11-3, 11-8 victory.
Chase regained the lead for the Fords with a sweep of Giovanni Matarazzo at the top flight (11-5, 11-4, 11-5), putting the Fords on the brink of the overall victory up 4-3. Reedich then clinched the overall match for the Fords, outplaying Matt Myers in a four-game tilt (11-9, 8-11, 11-7, 13-11).
The sixth and final individual match victory for the Fords game from Dougherty, as the sophomore had little trouble in a sweep of Riggs Johnson (11-5, 11-3, 11-5). Dougherty is now 11-0 this season, and an impressive 25-3 through the first two years of his career.
Haverford improved to 3-4 all-time against the Bison, winning for the third time in as many matchups against Bucknell.
Haverford will return to action on Saturday, February 9 at No. 16 Franklin & Marshall (10:30 a.m). The matchup is part of the Centennial Conference duals, as the Fords will also face off with either No. 25 Dickinson or No. 61 Johns Hopkins at 6 p.m. to wrap up competition in Lancaster.