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F&M Sophomore Earns All-American Tag
HARTFORD, Conn. - Franklin & Marshall's brother combination of Gabriel and Guillherme de Melo each split the first day of competition in the main draw at the College Squash Association Championships. The elder brother, No. 19 Gabriel, won his first round match to attain All-America status as one of college squash's top 16 players.
The third time was a charm for Gabriel de Melo. The Diplomats' sophomore started his day with his first win over Bates' Kush Mahan, who had beaten de Melo twice previously. No. 18 Mahan defeated the Diplomat once in the regular season and again during the CSA Team championships two weeks back. In this morning's match, de Melo (16-8) posted a 3-0 sweep of Mahan, 11-5, 11-6,11-2, to become the Diplomats' first All-American since Vineet and Vinay Asthana each earned the honor in 1999.
de Melo is the 14th Diplomat to become an All-American. It is the men's program's 31st tag overall. The nation's no. 2 player (and tournament's top seed), Colin West of Harvard, bounced de Melo from the main draw with a 3-0 sweep (11-7, 11-4, 11-9) Friday evening. Gabriel will return to competition tomorrow in the consolation quarterfinals.
No. 22 Guillherme de Melo (20-4) split his day against opponents hailing from the Ivy League. The younger de Melo fell 3-2 (7-11, 11-6, 11-13, 11-9, 11-9) to No. 14 Aaron Fuchs of Yale in the round of 32. He recovered in the first round consolation draw with a 3-1 (11-8, 14-12, 7-11, 11-9) victory over No. 5 David Letorneau of Princeton.
Gui's win was his 20th of the season. F&M's freshman is the first Diplomat to amass 20 wins in a season since the 1998-99 campaign when four players reached the mark. He will face the winner of the match between Yale's Todd Ruth and Trinity's Chris Binnie in tomorrow's first-round consolation quarterfinals.
Sadiq Madraswala was selected for the B-Draw. He withdrew prior to competition in order to focus on next week's exams.
