The Men’s College Team Nationals kicked off at four locations on Friday with action across eight divisions. Follow full results and play throughout the weekend at www.csasquash.com/mensnationals2018 including live streaming and live scores through Club Locker.
Potter Cup
In the opening pair of Potter Cup quarterfinals, No. 3 Harvard faced No. 6 Penn, and No. 4 St. Lawrence faced No. 5 Dartmouth. The regular season Harvard-Penn match had ended 5-4 for Harvard, and Penn hoped for a quick start in Friday’s contest that would place pressure on the higher seeded Crimson. At one point in the first round, the No. 3 and No. 9 matches sat a 1-1 in games and tied at 10-10 in the third, while Penn won the third game at No. 6 to extend the match. Play shifted favorably to Harvard from that point forward, however, as they captured each match to go up 3-0 overall. Harvard carried that momentum to a sweep of the No. 2, 5 and 8 matches all in three games to secure the overall win. Penn won at No. 1 and No. 7 in the third round to bring the final score to 7-2.
St. Lawrence put in a strong 9-0 performance against Dartmouth as it advanced to the semifinal. Moustafa Bayoumy captured a key first-round win at No. 3 over Matthew Giegerich in five games, while No. 9 George Willis came back after losing the first game to Reg Anderson. The Saints continued to keep the pressure up on Dartmouth on their way to the sweep, and will fight on Saturday to reach the second Potter Cup final in school history.
In the second round of quarterfinals, No. 2 seed Columbia faced Rochester while No. 1 Trinity faced Princeton. Trinity delivered a focused performance on home courts, winning 8-1 and dropping no games in the two through eight positions. In the first set of matches, Trinity No. 9 Aryaman Adik came back to win in four games after losing the first, helping the Bantams start off 3-0. The only match won by the Tigers—freshman Youssef Ibrahim beating Kush Kumar at No. 1—came after Trinity had already locked in the team win.
A resurgent Rochester team pushed hard for the upset against Columbia but fell just short, 6-3. Rochester opened well at No. 9 with Rodrigo Porras beating Mac Awalt 3-1, but Columbia grabbed the lead after the first round with wins at No. 6 by Adham Madi and by No. 3 Seif Attia in a four game win over Ricardo Lopez where Attia grabbed the first two games 15-13 and 14-12. Columbia chipped away another two wins in the second round of matches, though Rochester’s Matthew Toth kept the overall match alive with a gritty comeback from 2-1 down. Columbia proved too strong in the final round, however, with Robin Singh Mann securing the overall win at No. 7 for the Lions.
Hoehn Cup
Brown achieved the only upset of the day in the Hoehn Cup as it took down fourth-seeded Drexel in a match that came down to the final round. The quarterfinal was expected to showcase Drexel’s talent at the top of the lineup against Brown’s depth, and it almost played to script. At No. 5, Drexel’s Nat Fry came back from 2-1 down to win in five, while Brown’s Blake Gilbert-Bono did the same for his team at No. 6. Drexel won positions two through five, while Brown won positions six through nine; the key result for Brown came at No. 1 where Thomas Blecher upset Drexel’s Bransten Ming.
Facing Brown in the semifinal will be Hoehn top-seed Yale, which advanced past Navy 7-2. Thomas Kingshott stopped the Midshipmen’s early momentum with a five-game win at No. 6 over Dylan Sweeney.
In the bottom half of the draw, three seed Western Ontario made it past Virginia 7-2, highlighted by Western No. 4 Brett Schille winning in five games after losing a fourth game that was the one of the longest of the day—18-16. Second-seeded George Washington open captured three tight matches in the first round to set the table for a 7-2 win against Cornell, and the Colonials will take on Western for the first time this season in Saturday’s semifinal.
Summers Cup
Top seed Dickinson lost two matches in the first round at No. 3 and No. 9, but swept the remaining seven positions to take the first quarterfinal of the day 7-2. Dickinson will face Middlebury, who upset Williams 6-3 in one of the closest team matches of the tournament so far. In the second round of matches, Williams No. 8 Andrew Litvin kept his team in contact by winning the fifth game against Middlebury’s Thomas Wolpow 24-22 in the fifth—the most points in a single game of the entire college squash season.
Third seed Franklin & Marshall was pushed by MIT, but moved on with a 6-3 victory that was secured by five game wins in the final round by Ricardo Machado at No. 7 and Sanjay Jeeva at No. 1. F&M will meet Bates in the semifinal, who looked sharp in an 8-1 win against NESCAC rival Colby. Bates was propelled by a first-round five-game win by Anirudh Nambiar over Chase Holding in the No. 6 position.
Conroy Cup
In the top half of the Conroy division, the top seeds advanced with No. 1 Hobart defeating Stanford 9-0 and Tufts beating Connecticut College 7-2. Tufts managed to win each of the three five-game matches as well as each of the three four-gamers on the way to a semifinal berth.
Both matches on the bottom half came down to 5-4 results, with Haverford upsetting third seed Hamilton, and second seed Bowdoin defeating Wesleyan. Haverford held off a late Hamilton surge with a 12-10 fifth game win at No. 7 by Haverford’s Thomas Kaye in the final round, while Bowdoin swept the second-round of the matches to turn the momentum on the way to the victory.
Chaffee Cup
Top-seeded Fordham advanced to the Chaffee Cup semifinal with a 7-2 win over Northeastern, winning with depth as they swept the bottom seven positions. Fordham will face Denison, who upset four seed Georgetown 7-2 on the strength of wins in tight matches in positions seven through nine including a five-gamer for Denison No. 8 George McLanahan.
In the bottom half quarterfinals, two seed Bucknell earned a workmanlike win over the University of Chicago 7-2, showcasing depth in the lineup by winning the bottom six positions. Bucknell will face NYU in the semifinals, which upheld its third seed beating Bard 6-3. Bradford Sunderland captured the early momentum for NYU 11-9 in the fifth over Pranjal Ghate at No. 3.
Serues Cup
The top three seeds in the Serues Cup—Northwestern, Boston University and Boston College, respectively—all won by comfortable margins to advance to the semifinals.
Duke and Bryant contested the tightest Friday match in the division, with the Blue Devils winning 5-4. Bryant made a charge in the final round by winning at No. 1 and No. 7, but Duke #4 Charlie Niebanck held off Jonathan Lewis to secure the team win.
Hawthorn Cup
Hawthorne top seed North Carolina advanced with a strong 9-0 win over Siena, and will face Notre Dame in the semifinals after the Irish beat Lafayette 7-2.
On the bottom half of the draw, Cal Berkeley moved past Swarthmore 7-2 as they swept the bottom six positions. Cal Berkeley will face Richmond, who were led by a comeback from two games down by No. 1 William Remsen over Colgate’s Tom Sneeringer.
H Division
Play in the H division opened with a battle of southern schools, as Vanderbilt defeated Sewanee 8-1. Round robin play will kick off fully on Saturday.
