Williams Falls to Bates in NESCAC Semifinals

AMHERST, MA - The men's squash team fell today to Bates in the semi-final of the NESCAC squash championship tournament.

In the first round of the five court set-up, John Fitzgerald '19, Carl Shuck '20, Will Ruggiero '19, Claude Smith '20, and Ben Eisenberg '19 were up first to step through the doors in the hotly contested pre-match atmosphere. The match got off to a dead-even start, with Claude Smith and Will Ruggiero splitting the divide 1-1 between the teams, with Claude defeating his opponent in three games and Will falling in three. The next three matches played on the heartstrings of the coaches and spectators. Both Fitzgerald and Shuck battled side by side on courts 1 and 2 in five grueling games. Unfortunately, Fitzgerald and Shuck fell 13-11 and 14-12 in the fifth game respectively. Eisenberg was close behind with another loss in the fifth. This gave the Bobcats a 4-1 lead with three dead-even matches their way.

Jamie Ruggiero '17, Will Means '20, John Shuck '17, and Mason Elizondo '18 were up next to try and pull back wins. However, Will Means was first to fall to his opponent, who produced several magical shots to seal his victory. Jamie and Mason were next to fall, but John Shuck made sure the night shone with one last victory for Williams. The final score was 7-2 to Bates

The men will play Middlebury tomorrow at 1pm in the 3/4 playoff.