MEDFORD, MA (January 15, 2025) -- The No. 10 Tufts University men's squash team looked like it had a chance to pull a late comeback Wednesday against No. 12 Dartmouth College, but the rally would come up short as the visiting Big Green topped the Jumbos 7-2 in action from the Tufts Squash Center.
The Big Green (3-4) surged ahead in the opening wave of action, capturing all three of the first matches though many were tooth and nail the entire way. At No. 5 singles, Callan Venkatesan knocked off
Rohan Valia 11-3, 11-4 and 11-2 to take the early lead, while Felix Feldman was able to push past
Youssef Ezzo in a thrilling four-game match with scores of 14-12, 8-11, 11-5 and 12-10.
The final match of the first wave was at No. 1, and the two competitors of
Nachiket Desai and Christian Shah of Dartmouth played an epic five-game thriller. Shah won the first game 11-9, while Desai responded with an 11-7 win in the second to tie the match. Shah won the third 11-5, but Desai rallied with an 11-5 win of his own to force a fifth game. In the final period, Desai was able to shake off two match points before Shah earned the 13-11 win to put Dartmouth up 3-0.
In the second wave, senior captain
Kerwin Teh won his second straight match as he moved to 4-3 on the season with an emphatic 11-6, 11-2, 11-5 win at No. 3 over Ekam Singh.
Rutva Samant was bested at No. 8 by Dartmouth's Rana Thakkar 11-8, 11-9 and 11-9 to put the Big Green within one match of the victory. Tufts'
Jared Chin would fight that off though, as he pulled the reverse sweep rallying from down two games to earn an 8-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-5 victory at No. 6. The win for Chin pulled him even at 4-4 on the season.
At one point in the third wave, Tufts was leading in all three matches but unfortunately for the hosts it wouldn't last as Dartmouth captured the final three to seal the win. At No. 2, Mac Aube secured the win for Dartmouth with a 6-11, 14-12, 11-5, 11-8 win, while Warren Klein defeated
Shivin Kumar 8-11, 8-11, 11-5, 11-6 and 11-2. The final match of the night was at No. 4 where Quintin Campbell defeated
Santiago Medina Carrillo 11-5, 8-11, 11-3 and 11-7.
The Jumbos will look to get back into the win column on Friday afternoon, traveling to Amherst College to battle the No. 17 Mammoths in Amherst, MA.
--JUMBOS--
