PHILADELPHIA - The 30th-ranked Haverford College men's squash team (1-4) split the day at the Pennsylvania State Championships at the Penn Squash Center in University City. Haverford was defeated by No. 13 Franklin & Marshall in a morning matchup, but roared back to defeat No. 28 Dickinson by a 5-4 margin in the late afternoon match. The victory over the Red Devils marked the Fords' first win against Dickinson since the 2014 season.
No. 13 Franklin & Marshall 9, No. 30 Haverford 0
Franklin & Marshall jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, claiming their first victory in flight two as Sharan Punjabi defeated Aaryaman Jaising 11-4, 11-7, 11-8. The Diplomats continued their momentum in the fourth flight, as Noah Katzer overcame first-year Henry Jiang by a score of 11-8, 11-1, 11-8. The third victory of the day for F&M came in the eighth flight, with Juanber Hinostroza edging Francis Betkowski 11-7, 11-6, 11-7, in a highly contentious bout.
In a four-game thriller in flight one, Marco DiFillipo narrowly defeated Noah Tunis 11-4, 8-11, 11-4, 11-3 to extend the Diplomats' lead to 4-0. Flight nine saw the first extra-point game, as Hunarpal Kohli downed Arvin Krishnan 11-8, 16-14, 11-3 in a match that increased F&M's lead to 5-0.
Flight five witnessed another four-game thriller between Samuel Freed and Tarun Sargunar. Sargunar captured the first game 7-11, but Freed claimed the next three games to win 7-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-6.
The Diplomats wrapped up the match with three more victories to round out the day. Aditya Chandani prevailed over Kai Schinaman in flight three (11-8, 11-3, 11-3), Akshat Agarwal foiled Garrett Fantini (11-9, 11-6, 11-4), and Evann Tan vanquished Qianzhi Zhao (11-9, 11-7, 11-1) to complete the 9-0 victory for Franklin & Marshall. In exhibition play, Aman Nayyar defeated Ted Pyle 11-6, 11-2, 11-7.
No. 30 Haverford 5, No. 28 Dickinson 4
In the late afternoon match, the Fords upset the Red Devils (2-6) in a thrilling contest. Haverford looked strong up and down the ladder. A key victory came from Aaryaman aising at the second flight, as the junior bested Owen Buroker (12-10, 11-5, 11-5).
Another vital victory for the Fords came from rookie Tarun Sargunar, as the first-year swept Aidan Ray at the fifth flight (11-9, 11-5, 11-3). Qianzhi Zhao got the better of George Vollmer in a sweep at the sixth flight (11-5, 11-9, 11-5), while Arvin Krishnan defeated Adam Warburton at the ninth flight, cruising past his Red Devil opponent by scores of 11-2, 12-10, 11-7.
Francis Betkowski delivered one of the most impressive performances of the afternoon at the eighth flight, fending off a challenge from Bradley Hennessey of Dickinson to propel the Fords to a momentous win. Betkowski outlasted Hennessey in extra points to take the first game and secured an 11-9 win to move to the brink of victory. From that point, Hennessey responded with an 11-3 win and outlasted Betkowski 13-11 in the fourth game. In the decisive fifth game, it was all Haverford, as Betkowski surged past his Red Devil opponent for a crucial tally in the Fords' column.
Haverford will now take the momentum from the big victory over Dickinson into another action-packed weekend to begin a busy 2024-25 slate. The Fords will face No. 26 Connecticut College (1 p.m.) and Liberty League host No. 33 Vassar (3 p.m.) in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. on Saturday, November 23.
