PHILADELPHIA - The 30th-ranked Haverford College men's squash team (0-3) continued its early-season stint at the Pennsylvania State Championships, facing off against top-ranked Penn and No. 21 Chatham in a challenging slate on a busy Saturday.
The Pennsylvania State Championships is an annual round-robin tournament style event contested between every varsity squash program in the state of Pennsylvania, including a pair of perennial Division I powerhouses in Philadelphia's Penn and Drexel along with Chatham out of Pittsburgh. Centennial Conference foes Franklin & Marshall and Dickinson round out the annual field along with the Fords.
#1 Penn 9, #30 Haverford 0
The Fords were up against a tough challenge at the Penn Squash Center, taking on the defending national champion Quakers in their home opener. In flight one, Penn's Omar Hafez put on a commanding performance, defeating senior Noah Tunis 11-7, 11-5, 11-6. Aaryaman Jaising represented Haverford in flight two and was outplayed by Penn's Varun Chitturi, who triumphed 11-1, 11-8, 11-1, despite a hard-fought second game that saw some memorable moments for Jaising.
In flight three, Haverford junior Kai Schinaman gave it his all, but ultimately fell short against Hao Cui, dropping the match 11-5, 11-7, 11-9, despite earning a match-high nine points in a closely contested third game. In flight four, Kyle Penman overwhelmed rookie Henry Jiang 11-1, 11-6, 11-4.
As the match moved into the middle rungs of the ladder, Penn added two more victories, with Oliver Green beating Haverford's Tarun Sargunar 11-4, 11-4, 11-1, and Shaam Gambhir besting Qianzhi Zhao 11-3, 11-2, 11-3.
In the lower third of the ladder, Penn wrapped up the contest with three more victories. Jat Tse defeated senior Garret Fantini 11-2, 11-2, 11-3, while Rustin Wiser triumphed over Francis Betkowski 11-2, 11-2, 11-2. Senior co-captain Zadoc Bond fell to Ben Mathias, 11-2, 11-2, 11-4, as the Quakers claimed the final three flights to complete the sweep.
#21 Chatham 9, #30 Haverford 0
The venue shifted across University City to Drexel's Kline & Specter Squash Center for a neutral-site showdown with the Cougars of Chatham in the afternoon. The Cougars came away victorious by a 9-0 final in the matchup.
At the top flight of the ladder, Noah Tunis lost to Cougar standout Jared Nalliah, 11-7, 11-1, 11-7. In the second flight, Aaryaman Jaising was defeated by Agustin Carranza, 11-6, 11-6, 11-3 while Kai Schinaman dropped his match in the third flight to Lucas Oliveira, 11-5, 11-5, 11-2.
In the fourth flight, Henry Jiang was unable to handle Muhammad Hasaan Raza, losing 11-9, 11-7, 11-7 as the first-year looked poised in taking Raza to a tough fight, reaching nine points in the first frame. The fifth flight saw fellow first-year Tarun Sargunar come up short to Chatham's Abdelrahman Sadek, 11-7, 11-7, 11-8 while Qianzhi Zhao lost to Alejandro Cruz in the sixth flight, 11-6, 11-7, 11-9.
In the seventh flight, Garret Fantini was defeated by Haidar Jafry, 11-9, 11-3, 11-5. Francis Betkowski lost to Brett Poles in the eighth position, 11-5, 11-5, 11-7. The ninth rung of the ladder saw Zadoc Bond face defeat to Keyel Beasley, 11-3, 11-3, 11-1.
Haverford will now return to action on Sunday in Philadelphia, wrapping up the Pennsylvania State Championships slate with matchups against No. 13 Franklin & Marshall (9 a.m.) and No. 28 Dickinson (1 p.m.) at the Penn Squash Center in University City.