This past weekend, the Amherst men’s squash team competed in the Little III Championships, a meet in which the Mammoths faced off against Williams and this year’s hosts Wesleyan. Amherst defeated Wesleyan 7-2, but unfortunately fell 9-0 to Williams.
In the match against Wesleyan, the Mammoths won at spots two through six and eight through 10, and took five of their victories in straight sets. On court one, the Cardinals’ Sean Choi defeated Terence Wang ’21 in three very close sets, 11-9, 11-8, 11-9.
Robert Parker ’21 clinched court two, while Harith Khawaja ’19, David Merkel ’19, Reginald Brewster ’21 and Pavan Nagaraj ’21 won spots three through six. Chris Zimmerman ’20 fought hard on the seventh court, but was defeated by his Wesleyan opponent in four very close sets, falling 10-12, 11-8, 7-11, 10-12. Mateen Mills ’20, Cameron Bahadori ’18 and Arnav Parikh ’21 made up the rest of the Mammoths’ lineup and won their respective matches, contributing to the team’s overall success.
Against Williams, the Mammoths did not fare quite as well. The Ephs emerged victorious in a 9-0 shutout, securing the Little Three Championship title after having already bested the hosts.
Amherst maintained the same lineup from the previous matchup against Wesleyan when facing Williams. The final result of the sweep fails to demonstrate how hard Amherst fought, with the Mammoths pushing Williams to five sets at three different positions. Brewster on court five, Nagaraj on court six and Mills on court eight all came incredibly close to defeating their opponents. Wang, playing at the top of the ladder once again, also pushed his opponent to four sets.
The weekend meet marks the beginning of the end of the squash season, as the Mammoths have only postseason play remaining. With the win and the loss, the team now has an overall record of 7-7.
The men will return to competition on Friday, Feb. 2 for the NESCAC Championships, which will be hosted by Hamilton.