PHILADELPHIA – The Franklin & Marshall men's squash team took on the No. 1-ranked University of Pennsylvania Quakers Saturday during its second day of action at the Penn Cup. Although the Diplomats fell by an 8-1 score against the current top team in the country, the day was not without highlights as Kyle Broadhurst won at No. 1 against the Quakers' returning first-team All-American Nicholas Spizzirri in five games.
Against one of the mainstays at the top of the Penn lineup throughout his career, Broadhurst showed he was ready to battle from the opening points as he took the first game in a thrilling 13-11 tiebreak. The Quaker answered with a huge second game, but an 11-9 game victory in the third officially had the country watching on upset alert. Penn's senior knotted the match at two-all, forcing the decisive final game, but that was not going to deter Broadhurst who posted his most convincing victory of his day(11-7) during that decisive final game.
Marco DiFilippo also showed his ability to compete on the national stage by taking the second game from Penn's Rehan Luthra by an 11-7 score at No. 3. F&M also had a chance to go up a game at No. 6 in the lineup, but Evann Tan was just edged out by a 14-12 scoring during a thrilling start to his match.
The Diplomats will now wrap up Penn Cup action on Sunday at the University of Pennsylvania when they conclude the opening weekend of action against No. 15 Chatham. That match is set for a 10 a.m. start.
#1 Penn 8, #19 Franklin & Marshall 1
1: Kyle Broadhurst (F&M) def. Nicholas Spizzirri (Penn); 3-2 (13-11, 2-11, 11-9, 8-11, 11-7)
2: Nathan Tze Bing Kueh (Penn) def. Sharan Punjabi (F&M); 3-0 (11-5, 11-6, 11-6)
3: Rehan Luthra (Penn) def. Marco DiFilippo (F&M); 3-1 (11-5, 7-11, 11-7, 11-1)
4: Varun Chitturi (Penn) def. Jordan Sprecher (F&M); 3-0 (11-4, 11-3, 11-9)
5: Oliver Green (Penn) def. Noah Katzer (F&M); 3-0 (11-1, 11-8, 11-2)
6: Hao Cui (Penn) def. Evann Tan (F&M); 3-0 (14-12, 11-8, 11-9)
7: Kyle Penman (Penn) def. Sam Freed (F&M); 3-0 (11-6, 11-3, 11-4)
8: Jat Tse (Penn) def. Akshat Agarwal (F&M); 3-0 (11-8, 11-7, 11-4)
9: Ben Mathias (Penn) def. Juan Hinostroza (F&M); 3-0 (11-4, 11-5, 11-5)
