LANCASTER, Pa. - The 30th-ranked Haverford College men's squash team concluded its regular season slate with a split in a round-robin at Franklin & Marshall. The contest, which pitted schools in the Centennial Conference that sponsor squash, saw Haverford fall to No. 25 Dickinson, 8-1, before returning in the late afternoon to down No. 58 Johns Hopkins by a 9-0 final.
Haverford is now 12-2 on the season heading into the CSA Team Championships at Yale next weekend. With his individual win over Johns Hopkins, senior Yash Singh has tied Peter Dudley '18 for the most individual wins in program history with 46.
#25 Dickinson 8, #30 Haverford 1
Haverford struggled against a formidable challenge from a talented Red Devils squad. The Fords got their match win at the top flight as first year Davis Chase saw his opponent forced to retire in the third game.
At the second flight, sophomore Fitz Dougherty impressed by giving Hal Holappa a strong test. Holappa was forced to fend off Doughtery in extra points in the first game, before Dougherty stretched the second and third games to 11-8 finals (12-10, 11-8, 11-8). Dougherty remains Haverford's career winning percentage leader among players with at least 15 wins (.867).
First year Keil Reedich also took his opponent to extra points at the fourth flight. Osuman Imouro took the first two games by 11-7 finals, but Reedich earned 10 points in a hard-fought battle in the third game, before eventually falling 12-10.
#30 Haverford 9, #58 Johns Hopkins 0
In the late afternoon match, Haverford came out with a renewed energy against the Blue Jays. Haverford saw sweeps up and down the ladder.
First year Alden Weinberg surrendered just six total points in his sweep of David Paik at the eighth flight, holding his opponent without a point in the first two games (11-0, 11-0, 11-6). The next match to finish saw senior Alex Liu surrender just two total points at the sixth position, as he breezed by his opponent John Schindler (11-0, 11-0, 11-2).
Reedich allowed just nine total points in his sweep of Nathan Safran at the fourth flight (11-3, 11-4, 11-2), and Dougherty then prevailed over William Daniel at the second position to move Haverford closer to a match victory (11-5, 11-6, 11-5). The clincher came at the seventh flight, as senior Ryan Dukarm made quick work of Amith Umesh (11-1, 11-2, 11-6).
Singh then grabbed the individual victory that tied Dudley for the career wins lead, taking down Robin Xue while surrendering just six points in a sweep at the fifth flight (11-2, 11-2, 11-2).
Junior Tate Miller picked up a win at the third flight, surrendering just five points (11-3, 11-1, 11-1). First year Aaron Witkin allowed just a single point in his sweep of Sam Zmily at the eighth flight (11-1, 11-0, 11-0), and Chase brought it home with a sweep of Michael Tritsch at the top flight (11-6, 11-1, 11-2).
The win was Haverford's first over the Blue Jays since the 2012-13 campaign. The Fords will now turn their attention to the highly anticipated CSA Team Championships, hosted by Yale. The action will begin on Friday, February 15. Final ranking information, as well as draws for the postseason tournament, are expected to be announced early next week.