The Amherst men’s squash team sent their top four players to compete in the CSA Div. III Individual Championships this past weekend at Bowdoin.

In its first year, the tournament hosted 48 student athletes from 14 Div. III schools, including many from the NESCAC.

Playing in a field of 32 in the A bracket, Noah Browne ’16, seeded first, won his opening match against MIT’s Tyler Finkelstein with ease, sweeping him 3-0 to move onto the round of sixteen.

In the round of 16, he once again made quick work of his opponent; this time sweeping Nabil Sabeem of Bates, 3-0. Browne then took his quarterfinal match, 3-1, over Williams’ Jamie Ruggerio. However, the sophomore fell to the eventual champion, Taylor Foehl of Williams, in a closely contested 3-2 semifinal, losing 11-9, 8-11, 7-11, 11-6, 3-11.

Browne ultimately placed third overall in the “A” bracket thanks to a default win.

Also competing in the “A” Bracket, Scott DeSantis ’15 defeated Middlebury’s Wyatt French in the opening round by a 3-1 score, 11-7, 11-5, 2-11, 11-8. He then fell, 1-3, in the next round to the Ephs’ Christopher Wilkinson. In the consolation bracket, DeSantis, suffered a difficult loss to Tufts’ Aditya Advani, losing 3-0.

Rounding out the Jeffs’ “A” bracket competitors was senior captain David Kerr, who dropped his first match of the tournament, 3-0, to eventual finalist and second seed, Williams’ Kevin Chen.

In the consolation bracket, Kerr rattled off four consecutive victories to win the bracket and finish 17th overall. The first was a close match against Hamilton’s Tucker Hamlin, where Kerr was victorious, 3-2, by a tight score of 12-10, 7-11, 13-11, 10-12, 13-11. He then bested Williams’ Andrew Maruca, 3-1, before sweeping Colby’s C.J. Smith to take the semifinal match and advance to the finals where he earned the victory in a hard fought 3-2 match over Darrius Campbell of Bates, 11-4, 11-3, 5-11, 6-11, 11-3.

Alex Southmayd ’15 competed among 16 other student athletes in the “B” bracket for Amherst.
Seeded second, the captain defeated Dominic Hansford of MIT in the opening round of play in four games, 10-12, 11-7, 11-6, 13-11.

In the quarters, Southmayd edged host Bowdoin’s Maxwell Bearse, 3-2, by a score of 8-11, 13-11, 3-11, 11-9, 11-2.

The junior then fell to Colby’s Yuga Koda in the semifinal, 3-0. In the third/fourth place match, Southmayd was swept again, this time by Middlebury’s Harrison Croll, 6-11, 10-12, 9-11.

The entire team will be back in action this weekend as they compete in the CSA Team Championships. The tournament, held at Harvard, begins on Friday, Feb. 14.

“With a full lineup of rested players, we hope to make a big impact at Nationals this weekend,” remarked Southmayd.