Ephs fall to Tufts in NESCAC Semifinals

AMHERST, MA - This weekend the Ephs traveled to Amherst to compete in the NESCAC Championship. They were seeded 2nd going into the weekend, but unfortunately fell short, losing to Tufts in the semifinals. It was not the result they were looking for, but they are looking forward to Nationals.

In the first round they faced off against Bowdoin on a five court system. The team performed well, notably co-captain Andrew Minnis who  won a close match in five against his opponent. Co-captain Will Evans also won his match 3-1, pushing through a tough first game to win out. Unfortunately John Nicholson dropped the only match on Saturday, losing 3-2. A few members of the team stepped up to fill in for players who weren't able to compete on Saturday, notably Charles Merril, Rafay Syed, and Andrew Lee and they all won their matches respectively at the 7, 8, and 9 seeds, securing the 8-1 win for Williams.

In the semifinals, the Ephs faced off against Tufts utilizing the three court system. They ultimately lost 5-4 in a closely contested match. Charles Merrill at the 9 seed, played some of his best squash yet, securing a win for Williams. Co-captian Andrew Minnis dropped the first game, but then regrouped and won out to put a point on the board. Jack Lee had a brutal five game match, coming back from being down  2-1 in games to win 11-9, 11-9 in the third and fourth games respectively. Asher Leavy also started strong and won in swift 3 games. 

John Nicholson lost a close first game, but managed to come back in the second. Nicholson couldn't hold onto the momentum and lost 3-1. Co-captain Will Evans had a long five game match, but ultimately his opponent played some clinical squash and he lost 3-2. Nick Agger won his first game, but unfortunately couldn't keep the momentum and lost 3-1. Pierce Henderson and Alex Akbari both had close four game matches, but a few errors on crucial points resulted in both matches being lost 3-1.

With the first post season major tournament being concluded, the Ephs look to get in some good training in before Nationals.