WALLINGFORD, Conn. – The season came to a close Sunday for Haverford College's men squash team as the Fords fell to Johns Hopkins University, 9-0, in the consolation side of the Conroy Cup bracket of the College Squash Association national tournament.
Haverford (9-8) will finish the year ranked 32nd in the nation while Hopkins (9-8) will close out the season at No. 31.
Charlie Michele forced Hopkins' Janvier Chalopin into the stiffest test of the afternoon for the Blue Jays as the pair alternated wins through the first four games of the match at No. 5. Chalopin earned the early lead with an 11-8 victory but Michele fought back with an 11-7 win in game two.
Chalopin eked out a two-point win in game three to pull within a win of the match triumph but Michele answered in the fourth with an 11-8 victory. The combatants dueled point for point in the deciding fifth with Michele falling just short in an 11-9 loss.
Haverford's Peter Boal gained the early advantage over Michael Hur at No. 2, storming to an 11-3 win over his Blue Jay opponent. Hur bounced back, though and won the next three games by identical 11-6 scores to secure another point for Hopkins.
The match at No. 1 between the Fords' Andy McComas and Johns Hopkins' Harrison Finklestein was also hotly contested in the early going. McComas fell behind with an opening 11-9 loss but fought back to even the match with a 12-10 game-two victory. Finklestein was able to hold off McComas' challenges in the third and fourth games for the win, however.
The Fords entered the weekend at the CSA tournament hoping to duplicate last season's success when they captured the F Division's Serues Cup. A strong 2012-13 regular season improved Haverford's placement in the national standings eventually moving the Fords up not one, but two divisions in the national tournament's brackets.
Head coach Niki Clement was still proud of her team at weekend's end. "Though the results in Connecticut weren't what we'd hoped for," she began, "the fact that we progressed not just from last season to this one, but also from the beginning of the season to its finish shows that our program is on the right track and doing what's necessary to continue to climb the national ladder."