HARTFORD - The No. 2 seed Tufts University men's squash team defeated 6th-seeded Colby College 6-3 on Saturday evening in a consolation match of the NESCAC Championship.
After dropping a heartbreaker in the quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon the Jumbos were able to bounce back and secure an opportunity to play for a 5th place finish on Sunday, which would be a program best in the NESCAC Championships. With the win, Tufts improves to 6-5 on the season while Colby falls to 2-10 overall.
In the longest match of the evening, freshman Kerwin Teh dramatically defeated Colby's Jonathan Sosa with scores of 9-11, 10-12, 11-7, 12-10, 12-10. In the third slot junior Vivaan Jaikishan (pictured) also had a competitive match, coming out on top with a 3-1 victory over Adrian Castillo. All other matches of the evening would be determined in three sets. Freshman Oliver Eielson, senior Konrad LaDow, junior Shloke Sahay, and sophomore Sam Charlton were all strong with 3-0 shutouts contributing to the Jumbos victory. Despite strong performances with over twenty points scored, junior Kunal Valia in the first position and seniors Marco Rodriguez and Dillon O'Shea, in the fourth and fifth positions, respectively, would all suffer losses in straight sets.
Tufts will play No. 4 seed Amherst in the fifth place match tomorrow, Sunday Feb. 6th at 10:00am. In their last match up on January 23rd, the Jumbos came away with a 8-1 victory over the Mammoths.
