Vassar take two from Fords in squash
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11/07/09 – The men's and women's squash teams both fell to the nationally-ranked Brewers from Vassar College.
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – The Haverford College squash teams took on nationally-ranked Vassar College Saturday afternoon, the Fords men falling to the 43rd-ranked squad by a narrow 5-4 margin while the women dropped a 9-0 decision to the 18th-ranked Brewers.
The men's match came down to the No. 4 spot where Haverford's Alex Spiliotes battled back from a two-game deficit to tie the contest heading into the final game. Vassar's Arjun Jain was able to come away with an 11-6 win in the fifth game, though, to seal the deal and give the Brewers the fifth and deciding point in the opening match of their season.
The Fords (1-1) picked up wins from Andy McComas in the No. 1 spot (3-0), Zef Konst at No. 2 (3-2), Chris Tyson at No. 4 (3-0) and at No. 7 by Rutwik Kharkar (3-2).
The Haverford women (0-1) faced a stiff test in the season-opening match for both teams pairing off against a Brewers line-up that is loaded with ranked individuals. All nine of their Vassar opponents were rated in the top 400 of the nation's collegiate squash players headed by Emilie Kraft at 111th and who plays in the No. 1 spot for the Brewers.
The improving Fords squad was achieving successes in small increments against the experienced Brewers team. At No. 3, Haverford's Laura Tetri opened with an 11-1 loss to Hope Blinkoff (232nd in the country) but scored five points in each of the next two games. Margo Schall captured a total of eight points in her 3-0 loss to 162nd-ranked Libby Pei at the No. 4 spot.
Both the men and women will head to Annapolis, Md., for their next outing, each doubling up for two matches next Saturday at the U.S. Naval Academy. The men will square off against Vanderbilt and Southern California while the women will take on Vanderbilt and Georgetown.