HARTFORD, Conn. – The No. 7 Franklin & Marshall men's squash team was dealt a crushing 9-0 loss to No. 2 St. Lawrence on Friday afternoon at the opening round of the Potter Cup (A Division) at the Collegiate Squash Association (CSA) Team Championships. The defeat dropped the Diplomats to 13-7 on the season and takes F&M out of the running for the national championship, while the Saints move on in the bracket and improved to 14-1.
F&M will compete tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. in the consolation semifinals against the loser of Friday evening's No. 3 Harvard vs. No. 6 Rochester match. St. Lawrence will take on the contests winner in the semifinals on Saturday. Live results for all of tomorrow's contests can be found here, while updated brackets can be accessed here.
The Diplomats ran into a formidable opponent on Friday as the team's No. 2 country was dominant throughout the order, earning sweeps at the top four positions in the ladder. Pedro Veiga de Almeida battled at No. 5, jumping out to the early lead with an 11-8 game-one win, before suffering three straight losses for the 3-1 defeat.
Michael Sorochev (No. 7) narrowly earned F&M's lone victory on the day after rolling to wins of 11-8, 12-10 to register a commanding 2-0 advantage, however the Saints' Duncan Maxwell fought back to take three straight in the marathon 3-2 decision.
Kareem Nabil Abdel Mawla (No. 8) and Gavan Hitchenor (No. 9) each put up a fight at the bottom of the order but fell by 3-1 scores. Mawla staved off elimination with an 11-8 win in the third, but fell by an 11-6 tally in the fourth, while Hitchenor also dropped his opening two games, but avoided the sweep with an 11-8 score in the third game and fell by an 11-1 mark in the fourth.
#2 St. Lawrence 9, #7 Franklin & Marshall 0
1. Amr Khalifa (SLAW) def. Abhishek Pradhan (F&MM) 11-1, 11-5, 11-6
2. Egdar Zayas (SLAW) def. Cole Osborne (F&MM) 11-7, 12-10, 11-5
3. Ahmed Bayoumy (SLAW) def. Dylan Cunningham (F&MM) 12-10, 11-8, 11-7
4. Ibrahim Khan (SLAW) def. Alex Arjoon (F&MM) 11-0, 11-7, 11-8
5. Anderson Good (SLAW) def. P. Veiga de Almeida (F&MM) 8-11, 11-4, 11-6, 11-8
6. Hussien Elrayes (SLAW) def. Brian Henry (F&MM) 11-9, 11-6, 11-9
7. Duncan Maxwell (SLAW) def. Michael Sorochev (F&MM) 8-11, 10-12, 11-7, 11-2, 11-2
8. Lockie Munro (SLAW) def. Kareem Mawla (F&MM) 14-12, 11-3, 8-11, 11-6
9. Chris Fernandez (SLAW) def. Gavan Hitchenor (F&MM) 11-4, 11-7, 8-11, 11-1
Exh. S. Riedelsheimer (SLAW) def. Phil Kelly (F&MM) 6-11, 11-6, 10-12, 12-10, 11-4
