HAVERFORD, Pa. - The No. 32 Haverford College men's squash team (4-7) honored its senior class of Peter Lehv, Ali Nurkhaidarov, and Ben Schiltz prior to the first serve of a matchup against No. 33 Vassar Saturday at the GIAC Squash Courts.
Haverford gave its senior class something to celebrate heading into the final week of the regular season with a pair of resounding victories in College Squash Association action against Bucknell and the Liberty League foe Brewers, prevailing by a 9-0 final over the Bison before returning later in the day for a 7-2 win over Vassar.
Saturday also marked the annual Play With Pride match, celebrating Haverford's LGBTQ+ community members and supporting advocacy by and for the LGBTQ+ community. Play with Pride events occurred this past week on campus, including Play with Pride Men's and Women's basketball games on January 25, as well as the Track & Field meet on January 27.
No. 32 Haverford 9, No. 40 Bucknell 0
As was the case in its matchup against Navy on Thursday, Haverford began the Saturday slate with a 2-0 lead as Bucknell was only able to travel seven healthy players to the match, defaulting the eighth and ninth flights.
Once action got underway, the Fords made quick work of the visitors, with sweeps at all seven contested flights.
Kai Schinaman dispatched Will Vincent in straight games at the third flight (11-5, 11-5, 11-1), while Schiltz got the better of Trevor Seymour at the fifth flight (11-4, 11-3, 11-3). Arvin Krishnan helped the Fords clinch the match with a dominating performance over Daniel Kloner, allowing just one total point in an 11-1, 11-0, 11-0 performance at number seven.
At the second flight, Aayaman Jaising faced a bit of a tougher test from Cooper Jessop, with his opponent fighting to stay in each contest before dropping an 11-9, 12-10, 11-9 decision in straight games.
The next round of matches to hit the courts featured Noah Tunis getting past David Hitzrot at the top flight (11-9, 11-9, 11-5) and Lehv downing Gavin Frechette (11-2, 11-4, 11-1) at the fifth flight. Qianzi Zhao was victorious over Edison Scutari (11-3, 11-3, 11-3) at six.
Haverford has now won its eighth consecutive match over Bucknell, and the fourth consecutive 9-0 sweep in the series. Haverford is 7-4 all-time against the Bison.
No. 32 Haverford 7, No 33. Vassar 2
A familiar foe awaited the Fords in the nightcap, and Haverford did one better than December's 6-3 triumph, using the home-court advantage to down the Brewers for the second time this season. A series of classic individual battles dotted the ladder on Saturday.
Haverford got out to an early 4-0 lead behind wins at the second, third, fifth, and seventh flights.
Jaising made quick work of Jay Vashisht at the second flight (11-5, 11-5, 11-7), before Schinaman rallied from a first-game loss in extra points to dispatch Konstantinos Georgallides in four at the third flight (11-13, 11-5, 11-6, 11-6).
Schiltz also had to rally to pick up a point for the Fords, as his opponent Razaan Lalji opened up play with consecutive 11-9 wins at the number five spot. Undaunted, the senior found another gear, and rallied for a 13-11 win in the third game before rattling off 11-8 and 11-4 victories to pull the reverse sweep.
Krishnan similarly had to fend through adversity, as he took the first two games from Patrick Looby at the seventh flight. Looby grabbed the third game 11-8, but Krishnan prevailed in the fourth by the same 11-8 final to secure the 13-11, 12-10, 8-11, 11-8 victory.
As the second round of matches hit the court, the result was quickly clinched for Haverford, as Daniel Braun took the court and swept past Kyle Benson (11-9, 11-2, 11-6) for the fifth Fords tally of the afternoon at the eighth flight.
Lehv then swept Luke Chen at the fourth flight (11-8, 11-6, 11-9) and Francis Betkowski fended off Gabriel Lugo in five games. The Haverford rookie won the first two games with relative ease, 11-3 and 11-9, but Lugo stormed back for a pair of wins, forcing Betkowski to pull into the reserves and craftily secure an 11-6 win in the fifth game at the ninth flight (11-3, 11-9, 8-11, 4-11, 11-6). Betkowski is tied with fellow rookie Krishnan for the team lead in wins with five.
The two Vassar wins came at the very end of play, as Jarid Haslinger was able to defeat Qianzhi Zhao in straight games despite Zhao taking Haslinger to a marathon 17-15 decision in the third and final game.
Noah Tunis also grabbed the first game from Rithik Jalali before the top-flight Vassar player responded with hard-fought 11-9, 11-9, 11-8 wins as Tunis seemed right on the cusp of tying things at two each in that third frame.
Haverford now returns to action next weekend, hosting No. 14 Colby at the GIAC Squash Courts on Friday, February 2 (6 p.m.) before heading out to No. 24 Dickinson on Saturday, February 3 (12 p.m.). The Liberty League Championships are then on deck for February 10-11 in Canton, New York.