MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – In a very closely-played match that came down to the wire in several courts, the Wesleyan men's squash team was edged 5-4 in a NESCAC Tournament First Round showdown against Hamilton. The Continentals move on to the NESCAC Quarterfinals on Saturday while the Cardinals will face Conn. College in consolation play on Saturday at home.
It was a positive start for Hamilton as the Continentals scored 3-0 wins at #1 and #6 but the Cardinals answered with a 3-0 sweep of their own from
Ethan Yan '25 over Rufus Somerby at #4 (11-7, 13-11, 11-8) to make it 2-1 in the team leaderboard.
The remaining six matches all went at least four sets, five of which went the distance. Tate Burgin locked up another point for Hamilton at #7 with a 3-1 (11-6, 11-7, 3-11, 12-10) triumph over
Cole Zetterquist '24.
Not long after, it was 4-1 Hamilton as Nicholas Carabatsos took down
Jack Lungstrum '25 at #5 with a 3-2 victory (11-6, 8-11, 5-11, 11-7, 11-6) as the Continentals were just one point away from securing the match victory.
Wesleyan, however, would not go away without a fight as
Toby Goldston '24 recorded a crucial 3-2 win at #3, storming all the way back from two sets down with 11-6, 11-5, 11-5 victories in sets three through five as the Cardinals trailed 4-2.
Andrew Doucette '22 was next to finish at #9, as the senior defeated Blake Davis 11-6, 4-11, 14-12, 6-11, 11-9, cutting the Hamilton lead to 4-3 with two matches still ongoing.
The clinching point for the Continentals came off the stick of Tripp Peters at #8 as he defeated
Morgan Shatzman '25 by a 3-2 decision (14-16, 12-10, 11-4, 4-11, 11-9). The match with Shatzman featured two sets that went into extra points while the tiebreaker set finished at just a two-point margin.
Abhinav Gupta '25 closed out the match with a victory for Wesleyan at #2, defeating Waleed Nisar in the final three sets, overcoming a 2-0 set deficit with 14-12, 11-2, 11-3 victories in sets three through five.
Wesleyan (3-6) looks to rebound in the consolation flight of the NESCAC Tournament as the Cardinals will face the Camels on Saturday at home. This is the third meeting between the two sides this season with Wesleyan taking the first two matches by identical 8-1 margins.
