MIDDLETOWN, Conn. (February 24, 2023) – The No. 34 Denison University men's squash team participated in the first two rounds of the Conroy Cup division at the College Squash Association National Collegiate Men's Team Championship on Friday at Wesleyan University. In the end, the seventh-seeded Big Red opened up the championship with an 8-0 win over No. 52-ranked and 10th-seeded Bard College in the first round before falling 7-1 to No. 27-ranked and second-seeded Navy in the quarterfinals.
In the first-ever matchup against Bard for the Big Red,
Huma Bekhiet (No. 3 seed),
Lucas Piller (No. 4 seed) and
Rayan Dar (No. 5 seed) each won while holding their opponents to seven points or fewer.
Tarun Mammen (No. 2 seed),
Joao Victor Barbosa Gomes (No. 6 seed) and
Suryansh Agrawal (No. 7 seed) each added 3-0 wins as well while in the No. 1 spot,
Juan Felipe Hernandez fell behind two sets to one before pulling out wins of 11-5 and 11-2 in the final two sets to earn the comeback win.
Hernandez then rolled to a 3-0 (11-4, 11-8, 11-5) win in the No. 1 seed to pick up Denison's lone win of the match against Navy while Mammen won his first set 11-9 at the No. 2 seed. It was the first time winning a point off Navy for Denison since becoming an official varsity sport.
Now in the consolation bracket semifinals of the Conroy Cup, the Big Red will return to action on Saturday, February 25, for the second day of CSA Nationals.
Denison 8, Bard 0:
1S:
Juan Felipe Hernandez def. Artemy Mukhin 3-2 (8-11, 11-4, 7-11, 11-5, 11-2)
2S:
Tarun Mammen def. Martin Graham 3-0 (11-8, 11-3, 11-4)
3S:
Huma Bekhiet def. Asa Kaplan 3-0 (11-1, 11-0, 11-4)
4S:
Lucas Piller def. Luca Heidelberg 3-0 (11-1, 11-2, 11-3)
5S:
Rayan Dar def. Mujtaba Naqib 3-0 (11-2, 11-2, 11-3)
6S:
Joao Victor Barbosa Gomes def. Ali Mounim Rajabi 3-0 (11-4, 11-2, 11-5)
7S:
Suryansh Agrawal def. Jacob Nathan 3-0 (11-8, 11-3, 11-5)
8S:
James Maher def. Default (DF)
Denison 1, Navy 7:
1S:
Juan Felipe Hernandez def. Matthew Wang 3-0 (11-4, 11-8, 11-5)
2S: Millen Randell def.
Tarun Mammen 3-0 (9-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-6)
3S: Henry Sparkman def.
Huma Bekhiet 3-0 (11-7, 11-6, 11-8)
4S: Lucas Spiro def.
Lucas Piller 3-0 (11-9, 11-5, 12-10)
5S: Thomas Rankin def.
Rayan Darn 3-0 (11-2, 11-4, 11-2)
6S: Alexander Orr def.
Joao Victor Barbosa Gomes 3-0 (11-2, 11-2, 11-2)
7S: Benjamin Balser def.
Suryansh Agrawal 3-0 (11-1, 11-4, 11-1)
8S: Shankar Jambunathan def.
James Maher 3-0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-9)
