HAVERFORD, Pa. - The 30th-ranked Haverford College men's squash team (5-6) was defeated by No. 26 Navy (14-9) at the GIAC Squash Courts on Thursday evening, with the Midshipmen prevailing by a 7-2 final score.
At the ninth flight, Garret Fantini earned the win by default as Navy had only eight available players for the match. Haverford started the day with a 1-0 lead in its back pocket.
The first round of matches to hit the courts featured a showdown at the top flight between Quinton Crawford and Haverford School alum Matt Wang. In a back-and-forth battle between the standout players, Crawford jumped out to a sizable early lead in the first game, but Wang rallied deftly before the players traded points in an eventual 11-9, 11-9, 11-9 win for Navy.
Lucas Spiro dispatched Peter Lehv in straight games at the fourth flight (11-1, 11-6, 11-7) in a match held concurrently, and Kai Schinaman and Thomas Rankin locked horns at the fifth, with Schinaman rallying from a first game loss to tie things at 1-1 heading to the third. Rankin rattled off two relatively straightforward wins in the third and fourth flights to put another point in the Navy column.
John Collins also battled Ben Balser at the seventh flight during that first wave of matches, with Balser collecting an 11-5 win in the first game before Collins responded with an emphatic extra-points victory, taking a 13-11 decision that revved up the large Haverford crowd gathered. Balser had an answer, as he grabbed the third game by an 11-2 margin, and ultimately took the match in four games with an 11-7 victory in the final game.
In the second round of matches, Matt Sullivan grabbed a quick victory over Shankar Jambunathan, allowing just seven total points to his Navy opponent, picking up a key tally for the Fords at the eighth flight as Haverford remained alive with three matches still on court. Sullivan leads the Fords this season with six individual match victories, including a 5-2 record at the eighth flight.
Henry Sparkman took the victory over Aaryaman Jaising at the third flight (11-6, 11-7, 11-4), clinching the victory for the visitors. Ben Schiltz captivated the crowd with another battle at the sixth flight, falling to Haverford native Alexander Orr, as he went toe-to-toe with his opponent in an 11-9 third game loss.
The last match of the night to finish saw Noah Tunis taking on Millen Randell at the second flight. Randell prevailed with an 11-3, 11-2, 11-5 victory to put the seventh tally in the visitor's column.
Thursday night represented just the fifth time Haverford has welcomed the Midshipmen to campus, and the first time since the 2016-17 season. The inaugural meeting between the two programs was held Feb. 26, 1949 with Navy earning a 5-1 win.
The Fords now have the weekend off from competition, but will return to action on Saturday, January 28, with a pair of home matches against No. 32 Georgetown (10:30 a.m.) and No. 38 Vassar (3:30 p.m.) to wrap up the month of January at the GIAC Squash Courts.