BRUNSWICK, Maine – Bowdoin College's Deven Kanwal won the decisive #1 match giving the host Polar Bears a dramatic 5-4 victory over Tufts University in the 2020 NESCAC Championship fifth-place match on Sunday.
Jumbo #1 Raghav Kumar was up 10-8 in the fourth game of the match looking to force a fifth. However, Kanwal won four straight points to win the match 8-11, 11-7, 11-4, 12-10.
Tufts senior Connor Wind had dramatically forced the decisive final match with a five-game victory in the ninth spot. He had trailed 2-1 in his match against Ishaan George, and was down 9-2 in the fifth game before rallying for an 11-8, 1-11, 4-11, 11-8, 11-9 victory. A loss by Wind would have given Bowdoin the team victory.
Bowdoin improves to 10-8 overall and earns fifth place at the NESCAC Championship, their best showing since they were third in 2010. Tufts, whose sixth-place finish is their best since 2008, drops to 7-11.
The match went back-and-forth throughout. The teams split the first two matches to finish. In the #5 contest Jumbo freshman Vivaan Jaikishan took care of Bowdoin's Gannon Leech in three 11-4, 11-8, 11-7. The #8 spot went to Bowdoin's Drew Clark in four, with 11-4, 9-11, 11-7, 11-7 scores over Tufts senior co-captain Salik Awan.
Sophomore Konrad LaDow put Tufts up 2-1 with his five-game win over Polar Bear Tyler Shonrock in the third spot. LaDow trailed after three games, but won the last two for an 8-11, 11-6, 7-11, 14-12, 11-4 victory. However, Bowdoin's Carson Claar won #6 in three (11-8, 11-3, 11-5) against Jumbo sophomore Dillon O'Shea to even the match at 2-2.
Tufts edged ahead again 3-2 with the completion of the seventh match in favor of sophomore Will Dewire 11-8, 11-4, 15-17, 11-2 over Henry Somerby. In the second match, John Milligan won three competitive games against Tufts freshman Sanjeev Jeyabalan 11-8, 12-10, 13-11 as the Polar Bears again pulled even at 3-3.
At #4, Bowdoin's Adham Sobhy won three in a row after losing the first game to give the Polar Bears a 4-3 advantage with a 7-11, 11-7, 11-2, 11-7 win over Tufts sophomore Marco Rodriguez. That led to the dramatic finish.
Tufts was without its regular #1 player Kunal Valia, who had to retire from his match against Amherst yesterday and was not ready to go today. Everyone in the Tufts line-up moved up a spot to play the Polar Bears.
Both squads are next in action at the College Squash Association Team Championships starting February 28.
