Ephs Top Bates in Tight 5-4 Victory

LEWISTON, ME - Despite a tough fight from the Bobcats (3-4), the Ephs (5-3) eventually made their way over the finish line with a tight 5-4 win.

First on for Williams were junior Wyatt Khosrowshahi (#2), senior co-captain Carl Shuck (#5), and senior David Pincus (#8). Pincus struggled to a 3-0 defeat. Shuck was on top from start to finish and got the Ephs on the board with their first point. Khosrowshahi was made to work, finding himself locked in at 1-1, but was able to close out the next two games en route to a 3-1 win, leaving the cows up 2-1 after the first wave of play.

Next on court were sophomore Jacob Bassil (#1), junior AJ Solecki (#6), and senior co-captain Claude Smith (#7). Bassil and Smith each struggled to find a rhythm and succombed to 3-0 defeats. Meanwhile, Solecki played some brilliant squash and was able to deliver a 3-0 win of his own, leveling the match at 3-3.

With the overall match in the balance, freshman Udai Pal (#3), senior co-captain Will Means (#4), and freshman Charles "Chas" Merrill (#9) took to the court. Means put in another strong performance, putting the Ephs up 4-3 and on the verge of a narrow victory. Merrill took a 2-0 lead and looked like he would be the one to close out the affair, but was pegged back and defeated in a heartbreaking 5-game defeat, leaving his fellow classman Pal with the deciding match. After splitting the opening two games, Pal showed his nerve to win in four games, giving the Ephs a hard-fought 5 game victory.

Senior co-captain Carl Shuck had this to say after the match: "I'm proud that we were able to pull out the 5-4 win when the match was on the line this morning, but I know we could have been a bit better overall. We're looking forward to putting in solid performances against Bowdoin and Colby over the rest of the weekend."

The men will take on Bowdoin this evening at 6pm, before a 12pm matchup against Colby tomorrow.