HARTFORD, Conn. – The No. 6 Franklin & Marshall men's squash team gave Trinity all it could handle on Saturday afternoon, narrowly falling to the nation's No. 1 team by a 5-4 score. The Diplomats dropped to 3-2 on the year, while the Bantams improved to 6-0.

Pedro Veiga de Almeida and Dylan Cunningham put F&M out in front with a 2-1 lead after the first round of matchups. Veiga was strong at No. 6, taking down Elroy Jeong at 11-6, 11-3, 6-11, 11-9 while Cunningham came away with a marathon 12-10, 6-11, 5-11, 11-7, 12-10 win at the No. 9 spot.

A sweep from Alex Arjoon at No. 5 (11-7, 11-9, 11-6) followed by narrow defeats from Wesley "Cole" Osborne at No. 2 (11-2, 11-9, 11-3) and Brian Henry at No. 8 (6-11, 11-2, 11-3, 11-6) kept the Diplomats in the lead at 3-2. 

Abhishek Pradhan continued his undefeated mark on the year (5-0) after coming away with a key 5-11, 11-6, 11-6, 7-11, 11-5 win from the No. 1 spot to put Trinity on the brink of defeat, but a narrow loss by Mauricio Sedano at No. 4 (11-6, 8-11, 11-7, 11-6) and a hard-fought loss from Ryan Mullaney at the No. 7 position (11-7, 11-7, 11-6) gave the Bantams the win.

The Diplomats return to action on Friday, competing in the Amherst Round Robin. F&M opens with a doubleheader, starting with a match against Wesleyan (Conn.) at 5:00 p.m., followed by a contest against Hamilton at 7:00 p.m.