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| Salik Awan picked up a three set win for the Jumbos today. |
BRUNSWICK, Maine - The 24th-ranked Tufts University men's squash team defeated #26 Connecticut College 9-0 in the opening round of the NESCAC Championships on Friday night.
The eighth-seeded Jumbos were impressive as they swept the ninth-seeded Camels and improved their record to 6-9 on the season and 4-4 against conference opponents. The Camels drop to 8-9 on the season and 1-8 versus NESCAC opponents.
Freshman Kunal Valia competed in the first position today and was pushed to extra points in his first set but held on for a three set win 13-11, 11-4, 11-2. In the second position senior Raghav Kumar secured a four set victory (11-8, 11-6, 8-11, 11-8) for the Jumbos in a competitive match aguish Tyler Maguire. Freshman Sanjeev Jeyabalan and sophomore Konrad LaDow cruised to three set victories in the third and fourth positions, respectively.
Sophomore Marco Rodriguez won 11-9 in the first set at #5 before dropping set two 12-14 in a competitive battle. He bounced back in set three with an 11-5 win and secured a match win for the Jumbos when Michal Rodriquez retired in the fourth set. Freshman Vivaan Jaikishan defeated Christopher Mach in the sixth position with scores of 11-5, 11-3, 11-8 and sophomore Dillon O'Shea allowed only 14 points in his three set win at #7. Sophomore Will Dewire and junior Salik Awan both allowed only ten points as they rounded out the Jumbos line-up in the eighth and ninth positions, respectively.
Tufts will advance to the NESCAC quarterfinals after today's win where they will square up against top seed Trinity College at 10:00am on Saturday. Connecticut College will compete in the consolation rounds at 3:00pm.
