PHILADELPHIA, Pa. (February 18, 2022) – The No. 33 Denison University men's squash team participated in first round of the College Squash Association National Collegiate Men's Team Championship on Friday at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center. In the end, the Big Red lost 6-3 to No. 31 Connecticut College and 9-0 against No. 26 Colby College. Denison is competing in the Conroy Cup bracket of the event, and the first day of matches consisted of a round robin format between the three teams.

Against Connecticut, Denison won two of the first four seeds to finish, but could not pull out the victory in the end. Lucas Piller won 3-0 at the No. 3 seed while Joao Victor Barbosa Gomes won his first two sets 11-8 and 11-5 at the No. 5 seed before needing to come from down scores of 9-5 and 10-7 in the fourth set to win it 12-10 with five straight points.

In the first set of seed No. 7, Michael Chin-Lee went from down 11-10 to winning it 13-11 before dropping the next three sets, including a tough 11-9 loss in the third set.

Tied 12-12 in the third set at the No. 6 seed, Rayan Dar dug down deep and pulled out the 14-12 win. Then in the fifth set, Dar scored seven in a row to go from down 5-4 to winning it 11-5 and giving the Big Red their third win of the match.

In one of the most exciting matches of the day, Abdallah Bekhiet took the first two sets 11-2, 11-8 at the No. 2 seed. In what could have been a huge momentum shift in the team score for Denison, Connecticut's MD Jawad hung tough, winning the third set 12-10 and completing the comeback in a match that lasted 51 minutes in total.

Needing wins in both the final two seeds to try and steal the victory, the Big Red played hard but came up short in both. The match clincher was at the No. 1 seed, where Tarun Mammen won the third set 11-7 and then lost 14-12 in the fourth set while trying to force a fifth. At the No. 4 seed, Mario Reifschneider won the second set 11-3 and won the fourth 11-5, but lost both the first (13-11) and third (12-10) sets in extra scoring before falling 11-3 in the fifth.

Against Colby, the closest match early on was at the No. 3 seed, where Piller fell 3-1. Then toward the end of the match, Bekhiet won the first set 11-9 at the No. 2 spot and then held a 2-1 set lead after winning the third set 11-6, but was held to only five points over the final two sets.

Colby won both of its matches on the day to improve to 5-10 on the season while Connecticut went 1-1 to move to 4-11 and Denison dropped to 3-9.

The Big Red will return to action at the Specter Center on Saturday, February 19, for the second day of CSA Nationals. At 2:30 p.m., Denison will battle Fordham University, who Denison defeated 8-1 back on November 13 earlier this season.
 
Denison 3, Connecticut 6:
1S: Tyler Maguire def. Tarun Mammen 3-1 (11-9, 11-6, 7-11, 14-12)
2S: MD Jawad def. Abdallah Bekhiet 3-2 (2-11, 8-11, 12-10, 11-8, 11-3)
3S: Lucas Piller def. Christopher Mach 3-0 (11-6, 11-9, 11-8)
4S: Alexander Lorenzo-Cruz def. Mario Reifschneider 3-2 (13-11, 3-11, 12-10, 5-11, 11-3)
5S: Joao Victor Barbosa Gomes def. Thomas Whittemore 3-1 (11-8, 11-5, 8-11, 12-10)
6S: Rayan Dar def. Juan Hurtado 3-2 (6-11, 11-8, 14-12, 6-11, 11-5)
7S: Mike Achatz def. Michael Chin-Lee 3-1 (11-13, 11-6, 11-9, 11-5)
8S: Demetrius Iatridis def. Mark Taylor 3-0 (11-6, 11-4, 11-3)
9S: Timothy First def. Default (DF)
 
Denison 0, Colby 9:
1S: Dylan Tymkiw def. Tarun Mammen 2-0 (11-3, 11-3 RE)
2S: Jonathan Sosa def. Abdallah Bekhiet 3-2 (9-11, 11-5, 6-11, 11-4, 11-1)
3S: Adrian Castillo def. Lucas Piller 3-1 (11-1, 11-5, 7-11, 11-7)
4S: Alex Spafford def. Mario Reifschneider 3-0 (11-3, 11-7, 11-3)
5S: Syed Haseeb Kashef def. Joao Victor Barbosa Gomes 3-0 (11-4, 11-6, 11-6)
6S: Ryan Santoro def. Rayan Dar 3-0 (11-1, 11-2, 11-0)
7S: Kit Illick def. Michael Chin-Lee 3-0 (11-1, 11-5, 11-3)
8S: Duda Voldman def. Mark Taylor 3-0 (11-1, 11-0, 11-0)
9S: Tyler Burt def. Max Mehm 3-0 (11-1, 11-1, 11-1)