NORTHAMPTON - The Tufts University men's squash team earned a solid 6-3 victory against Hamilton College in the consolation round of the NESCAC Championship on Saturday morning at Smith College.
In the latest College Squash Association national poll, the Jumbos are #28 and Hamilton is #29. Tufts had leapt over the Continentals, who where the #27 team in the previous national poll ahead of the #28 Jumbos. Tufts lost 6-3 to Hamilton earlier this season.
The Jumbos entered the conference tournament as the nine seed and Hamilton was 10th. Both teams lost their opening round matches on Friday. Tufts fell 7-2 against eight-seed Wesleyan and Hamilton also lost 7-2 to seven-seed Bowdoin.
The match played out as would be expected between two evenly matches teams. Three of the competitions went to five games and two others went four. Three of the remaining four matches that were decided in three games were very competitive.
Most intriguing was the eighth match where Tufts junior Sandeep Rishi overcame a 2-0 deficit to defeat Hamilton's Atticus Jones 10-12, 12-14, 11-9, 11-5, 11-6.
At both #2 and #4, Tufts players built 2-0 leads and then withstood two-game rallies by Hamilton and won in the fifth. Freshman Raghav Kumar was a 15-13, 11-5, 10-12, 3-11, 12-10 winner in the second match over Continental Callum Sondhi. Tufts junior #4 Braden Chiulli defeated Hamilton's Tristan Chaix 11-9, 13-11, 9-11, 4-11, 11-3.
Twice in four-game matches the winner lost the first game. Tufts sophomore Aidan Porges rallied for an 8-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-3 win over Sam Matlick at #5. Hamilton's Nicholas Conzelman returned the favor with a 4-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-6 win over Tufts sophomore Imran Trehan in the seventh match.
The #9 match won by Tufts freshman Amun Sahrawat was a three-game battle with 11-8, 13-11, 14-12 scores. Tufts freshman Connor Wind had the easiest victory for either side with an 11-5, 11-5, 11-9 final versus Mark Sperry.
Tufts (12-7) will conclude its NESCAC Championship play with another consolation match against Connecticut College later on Saturday. Hamilton (4-11) does the same versus the Camels.
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