POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – The Haverford College men's squash team split a pair of matches on Saturday at Vassar College, dropping the first contest of the afternoon to No. 16 Bates, 7-2, before bouncing back to beat No. 34 Vassar, 9-0, wrapping up the day at Kenyon Hall with a win over the host Brewers. The Fords are now 4-1 on the season.
Bates 7, Haverford 2
The Fords received standout performances from senior co-captain Peter Dudley, who was able to put strong pressure on his opponent throughout the match, persevering by forcing the competition into errors. Dudley dropped the first game, rallying to win in four over McLeod Abbott at the fourth position (5-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-6).
First year Thomas Kaye continued a perfect start to his collegiate career,improving to 4-0 with an 11-6, 11-4, 11-7 sweep over Gabriel Burton at the ninth spot on the ladder.
The team came out with focus play at every position on the ladder, but Bates excelled at controlling the "T" position, which proved to be the difference in the matchup.
Haverford 9, Vassar 0
The Fords were able to make quick work of the Brewers, with each match ending in a sweep. The Brewers had just one individual reach seven points in a game. Tate Miller dispatched Viraj Nadkarni (11-8, 11-4, 11-3) at the first spot on the ladder while Davis Chase took down Mathieu Rizik (11-8, 11-3, 11-7) at the second spot.
From positions three through nine, the Fords showed their might, allowing just 28 total points in a dominating effort as Fitz Dougherty, Dudley, Andre Giglio, Zach Cole, Alex Liu and Yash Singh all cruised to victories. Cole now has 38 victories, just six shy of the all-time program record held by Tim Saint '02.
Vassar only had eight players suited for competition, so the Fords took the ninth spot on the ladder by default.
The trip to Vassar wraps up the 2017 portion of the schedule for the men's squad as the Fords will break for the holidays before returning to competition at home against January 16 against No. 28 Tufts and No. 30 Connecticut College. The action starts at 10:30 a.m. at the GIAC Squash Courts.