HAVERFORD, Pa. — The 30th-ranked Haverford College men's squash team (2-8) returned home to the friendly confines of the GIAC Squash Courts on Thursday evening for the first time in 76 days, taking on the 14th-ranked Navy Midshipmen (18-3). Despite spirited performances in front of a large home crowd, the visitors came away with a 9-0 victory.
The first match to reach completion came at the fourth flight, where Johan Hodgson was victorious over Kai Schinaman, 11-3, 11-2, 11-2. At the top flight, Aaryaman Jaising battled Wenqing Tang, with the Navy player earning an 11-3, 11-5, 11-7 decision.
The next two matches to reach completion came at the seventh and sixth flights, respectively, with Advait Chandramouli falling in straight games to Michael Tierney, 11-6, 11-6, 11-6, at the seventh flight.
Qianzhi Zhao gave Avinash Uppuluri a battle before falling in four games at number six. Uppuluri claimed the opening game, 11-5, before Zhao responded with an 11-6 win in the second. The Navy player then rattled off 11-5 and 11-3 victories to add a fourth point to the visitors' total.
Christian Graziano dispatched Henry Jiang at the second flight, earning an 11-7, 11-8, 11-4 win to clinch the match for the Midshipmen. Nevin Mital was upended by Eli Levy at the ninth flight, falling 11-4, 11-6, 11-2.
Ramsay Killinger followed with a win at the eighth flight, defeating Dean Ibrahim, 11-2, 11-6, 11-4.
A tightly contested battle emerged at the third flight, with Ben Levy locking horns with Alexander Orr. Levy pulled ahead with an 11-9 first-game win before Orr answered with 11-8 and 11-5 victories. Levy responded by taking the fourth game, 11-9, setting up a winner-take-all fifth. Orr closed out the match with an 11-4 decision to give Navy its eighth point of the evening.
At the fifth flight, Jet Li was defeated by Andrew Ko in straight games, 11-3, 11-8, 11-3 to wrap up the evening.
In the exhibition match at the 10th flight, contested during the opening round of play, Francis Betkowski took the first game from Hudson Poirier, 11-8, before Poirier rallied with 11-9, 11-7 and 11-9 wins to claim the match in four games.
The Fords return to action on Saturday, continuing a stretch of home matches against a pair of Liberty League opponents. Haverford faces Hobart at 10:30 a.m. before a matchup with Vassar at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 31.
