This past weekend, the men’s squash team travelled to Cambridge, Mass. to participate in the CSA Team Championship, hosted by perennial powerhouse Harvard. Pitted against a trio of tough opponents, the purple and white failed to tally a victory, losing to NESCAC foes Middlebury and Colby as well as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Facing off against the 17th-ranked Panthers for the second time this season, Amherst again was swept 9-0. Although Amherst only suffered a trio of three-set defeats, the result of the match was never truly in doubt.
The closest any member of the purple and white came to nabbing a single match was first-year Mitch Ford, who fell in five sets on court nine.
After battling back twice to tie the match at two sets, Ford lost a heartbreaking fifth set by a score of 17-15.
Amherst improved on their Friday showing when the team took on MIT on Saturday. The squad captured victories on courts one, four and nine in addition to the exhibition court, where sophomore Ian Petty won a tight five-set affair. Harith Khawaja ’19 posted a dominant three-set victory on the first court, while Cameron Bahadori ’18 fought back from a two-set deficit to win 10-12, 6-11, 11-7, 11-9, 12-10.
Finally, Ford managed to make up for Friday’s loss by annihilating his Engineer foe in three sets.
The purple and white closed out their season with a loss to Bates, falling 5-4 for the second time this year. Ford was the lone member of the purple and white to notch a second win on the weekend, taking part in yet another five-setter.
David Merkel ’19 tallied his first win of the weekend on court three, providing a strong finish to what has been an impressive sophomore campaign.
Fellow underclassmen Lucas Sheiner ’19 and Chris Zimmerman ’20 posted Amherst’s two other wins with similar five-set victories on courts six and seven.
Amherst came close to nabbing the critical fifth victory on several courts, with Khawaja, Darian Ehsani ’17 and Mateen Mills ’20 all losing in five sets.
With the three losses, the purple and white finish the season with a record of 7-13 overall.
