On Saturday, Dec. 5, men’s squash traveled east to face 27th-ranked MIT. With an impressive 6-3 victory over Western Ontario two weeks in the rear view, the purple and white made their trip along the Masspike with their eyes on a 2-0 start to a promising young season.

Now ranked 22nd nationally, Amherst put their depth on display in downing the Engineers 7-2, with wins from the 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9 positions.

Senior captain Noah Browne got the festivities started on the first court with a 3-0 victory, triumphing convincingly in each set: 11-6, 11-6 and 11-5. David Merkel ’19, playing from the No. 2 position in just his second collegiate match, fell to a cagey opponent in MIT’s Tyler Finkelstein, but not without battling back from a 2-0 deficit after two games to force a fifth (11-9, 11-6, 8-11, 8-11, 11-4).

The young guns continued to fire for Amherst on the third and fourth courts. Cameron Bahadori ‘18 and Harith Khawaja ‘19 both earned Ws, and both brought their individual records to 2-0 for the 2015-2016 campaign. Khawaja’s opponent, Dominic Hansford, entered the match having prevailed in six of his last seven fixtures.

Harith was unfazed by this recent run of good form though, and just as Bahadori had done one match before him he didn’t drop a single game en route to his victory.

When it was time for the final four matches, everything was coming up purple and white. Lucas Sheiner ’19 began Amherst’s sweep of courts 6 through 9 in a competitive 11-7, 12-10, 11-8 win.

It was then senior captain Thornton Ellis who supplied the dagger for Amherst on court No. 7, outlasting his opponent in a marathon first game and winning the day to the tune of 17-15, 7-11, 11-7, and 11-3.

Darian Ehsani ’17 and Ian Petty ’19 followed with wins of their own at the eighth and ninth positions, respectively: 11-4, 9-11, 11-7, 11-3 and 8-11, 11-4, 11-4, 11-4. Rob Schwartz ’19 added a hard-fought 3-2 victory on court 10 to close a successful day for the purple and white.

Still undefeated, the men’s squash team enters a 38-day hiatus before returning to action on Friday, Jan. 15 with a match at home against league foes Hamilton at 3 p.m.