BRUNSWICK, Maine – The Tufts University men's squash team upset Amherst College, 5-4, in the consolation round of the 2020 NESCAC Championship hosted by Bowdoin College on Saturday evening.
Senior co-captain Salik Awan won the ninth match in five sets 5-11, 18-16, 11-5, 4-11, 11-6 for the decisive victory that lifted the Jumbos over the Mammoths.
Tufts is the eighth seed in the tournament and Amherst is fourth. The Jumbos are ranked 24th and Amherst is 20th in the College Squash Association national poll. The Mammoths won 6-3 when the teams met earlier this season on January 31.
This is the Jumbos' first victory over Amherst in more than 20 years. Team results prior to the 1999-00 season were not readily available.
The Jumbos will play either Colby or Bowdoin in another consolation match on Sunday at 9:30 am for fifth place in the league.
Tufts freshman Vivaan Jaikishan earned a big five-game win in the sixth match tonight. He went back and forth with Amherst's Nathaniel Mosse for an 11-6, 5-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-7 victory.
The Jumbos also took a pair of four-set wins. In the third spot, freshman Sanjeev Jeyabalan built a two-game lead and eventually earned an 11-7, 11-9, 6-11, 11-3 win over Adam Lichtmacher. In the eighth contest, Tufts sophomore Will Dewire was tied one game apiece before winning the next two in an 11-9, 9-11, 11-9, 11-5 defeat of Pavan Nagaraj.
Tufts sophomore Dillon O'Shea had a 2-0 lead in his #7 match before Mammoth Andrew Leung rallied for a 9-11, 3-11, 11-9, 11-4, 11-9 victory. Amherst's Charlie Sutherby scored a four-game win (11-9, 12-10, 7-11, 11-9) against Tufts senior co-captain Raghav Kumar in the second spot.
The only match that went three games was the fifth where Amherst's Terrence Wang won 11-5, 11-8, 11-8 over Jumbo sophomore Marco Rodriguez. In the top match Tufts' Kunal Valia had to retire with the score tied one set apiece.
Tufts improved to 7-10 overall and 2-1 at the NESCAC Tournament this weekend. Amherst, now 8-7, will play the Bowdoin-Colby loser for seventh place tomorrow at 9:30 am.
