Williams Men's Squash Downs Colby 7-2, Bowdoin 8-1 to Improve to 4-6 on the Season

Brunswick, Maine -- Following the disheartening loss to Bates on Saturday, the Williams men were hungry for a chance to get back on the court. Luckily, they had two more matches on Sunday, and the team sent a message early on.

On the top court against Colby, all three players, Galen Squiers '16 (#3), John Fitzgerald '16 (#2), and Jamie Ruggiero '17 (#1) played great squash to give Williams three needed points. The other two first round matches, in addition to Squiers, were Mason Elizondo '18 (#9) and Varun Sharma '16 (#6). Both were very evenly matched against their opponents, and went to five games. Elizondo, down 10-8, hit a cross-court backhand nick to get a point, and then used that momentum to win the next three and seal the match with a 12-10 victory in the fifth game. It was a great come-from-behind performance. Unfortunately Sharma was unable to clinch the match, but Eph head coach Zafi Levy was very happy with how he played. It was a huge improvement over the previous day's loss to Bates. 

Next, Michael Petrick '16 (#5) cruised to a four-game victory, giving Williams a 5-1 lead with three matches to play. Jamie Havran '18 (#8) kept fighting throughout his match, and was able to secure another point for the Williams Men. The last two players on court were David Pincus '19 (#7) and John Shuck '17 (#4). Shuck, fatigued after a tough match against Bates the day before, lost in a close three games to give Colby their second point. Pincus was able to continue his winning streak, giving Williams their seventh point.

Immediately following this win, the team boarded the bus for the one-hour trip down to Bowdoin. The match started very quickly after the team got off of the bus, and Williams started off a little slowly. Mason Elizondo won quickly at the #9 position, while Varun Sharma went down two games, and Galen Squiers split the first two at the #3 position. Sharma was able to battle back and win in five games, giving him a much needed win to close out the road trip, and give Williams a 2-0 lead. Squiers also won the next two games handily. 

The next round of matches was also very close. John Fitzgerald showed great skill at the #2 position, winning 3-0 easily. However, Michael Petrick was in a battle with captain Galen Squiers's brother, Ian, at the #5 position. It was a great match, but Petrick was fatigued after his first two matches of the weekend and lost in four games.

Jamie Havran battled back from being down 2-1 at the #8 position to win 12-10 in the fifth game, giving Williams a 5-1 lead and clinching the match. The final round of matches all went to Williams, and were perhaps the three best performances of the weekend for Williams. Jamie Ruggiero beat his opponent quickly and easily in three games. David Pincus also won his match in three games, making him the only Williams player to go 3-0 on the weekend. Finally, John Shuck dropped the first game to his opponent at the #4 position, but then played outstanding squash in the next three games and cruised to victory. 

Coach Levy was happy with the way the team bounced back and won two tough road matches following the unfortunate loss to Bates on Saturday. Next up for the Ephs is the highly anticipated match with the Naval Academy on Friday at 5pm, at the Simon Squash Center.