LANCASTER, Pa. – The No. 17 Franklin & Marshall men's squash team recorded its fifth straight victory with an 8-1 triumph over No. 26 Navy on Wednesday night. The Diplomats swept the No 6 through No. 8 matches on the ladder and received a default victory at No. 9 when the Naval Academy could only field eight players. Over their seven total matches played to a victory, F&M dropped just four games on the evening.

Marco DiFilippo (No. 3), Flavio Hinostroza (No. 6), Evann Tan (No. 7), and Sam Freed (No. 8) were all 3-0 winners, which combined with the win at No. 9, was already enough points to clinch the team victory. Kyle Broadhurst (No. 2) and Noah Katzer (No. 5) dropped just one game during their respective four-game wins. Broadhurst was up 2-0 before his opponent forced a fourth. Katzer fell in extra points to start his night, but ran off three straight games to seize the momentum back and secure an early win for the homestanding Diplomats.

The only match to go to a decisive fifth game came at the top of the ladder where Petr Nohel would ultimately prevail in a contest that lasted just over an hour. The F&M sophomore appeared to be well on his way to victory after a big rally helped him secure the opening game in extra points, 13-11, before he cruised in the second. Nevertheless, his opponent answered with two consecutive games of his own before Nohel took the hard-fought fifth game by an 11-9 final.

Men's squash will take its five-match winning streak on the road when the Diplomats take part in the Mid-Atlantic Squash Conference Championships which are slated for Friday, February 3 throughout Sunday, February 5 at the University of Virginia. With the announcement of today's updated national rankings, the schedule for the MASC Championships will be announced shortly.

#17 Franklin & Marshall 8, #26 Navy 1
1: Petr Nohel (F&M) def. Matthew Wang (NAVY); 3-2 (13-11, 11-2, 7-11, 4-11, 11-9)
2: Kyle Broadhurst (F&M) def. Millen Randell (NAVY); 3-1 (11-9, 12-10, 7-11, 11-3)
3: Marco DiFilippo (F&M) def. Henry Sparkman (NAVY); 3-0 (11-9, 11-9, 11-3)
4: Lucas Spiro (NAVY) def. Teddy Eill (F&M); 3-0 (11-6, 13-11, 11-8)
5: Noah Katzer (F&M) def. Thomas Rankin (NAVY); 3-1 (10-12, 11-4, 11-8, 11-9)
6: Flavio Hinostroza (F&M) def. Alexander Orr (NAVY); 3-0 (11-4, 11-3, 11-7)
7: Evann Tan (F&M) def. Benjamin Balser (NAVY); 3-0 (12-10, 11-3, 11-8)
8: Sam Freed (F&M) def. Shankar Jambunathan (NAVY); 3-0 (11-2, 11-5, 11-5)
9: Michael Betkowski (F&M) won by default