Squash Competes at the Navy Round Robin

Fordham+Squash+went+2-2+at+the+Navy+Round+Robin.+%28Courtesy+of+Fordham+Athletics%29

Fordham Squash went 2-2 at the Navy Round Robin. (Courtesy of Fordham Athletics)

Fordham Squash competed at the Navy Round Robin this past weekend in Annapolis, Md., playing in four matches from Friday to Sunday. The Rams went 2-2, picking up wins against Bucknell University and the Navy club team, but falling to the Navy varsity team and Denison University.

Competition began for the Rams on Friday against Navy’s varsity team. The Midshipmen dominated Fordham, winning the match by a score of 8-1. Junior Nicholas Choo delivered Fordham their only victory in the ninth position, as he defeated Shankar Jambunathan 11-5, 11-4, 11-5. Navy came away with sweeps in positions 1-7 as they swept the round robin to improve to 10-1 on the season.

Fordham rebounded on Saturday with a 6-3 win over Bucknell. The Rams struggled at the top of their lineup but got things going towards the bottom, picking up wins in positions 5-9. Some key performances from the Rams came from sophomore Bennett Van Liew in fifth position and freshman Jack Stanley in sixth position. Van Liew defeated Harrison Sotir 11-5, 11-4, 11-9, while Stanley got the better of Will Vincent 11-7, 11-8, 13-11.

The Rams kept things rolling later that day with a 9-0 sweep over the Navy club team. While Navy only had five players available to compete, Fordham managed to sweep each of these matches and win by default in the other four. Freshman Adham Nassar and sophomore Sofia Arseniev were dominant in first and second positions, with Nassar topping Alexandre Toner 11-4, 11-4, 11-8 and Arseniev getting the better of Alexander Hoot 11-3, 11-1, 11-0. In the five matches that were contested, Fordham defeated Navy club by a combined score of 165-54.

To close the round robin on Sunday, the Rams were faced with a tough test against a very talented Denison team. Denison came out on top 8-1, with Fordham’s sole victory coming from Van Liew in fourth position. He defeated Lucas Piller in four sets, 3-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-5.

With their 2-2 performance at the Navy Round Robin, the Rams move to 7-3 on the season. They are back in action this weekend with four more contests, beginning on Friday with a home matchup against the University of California, Berkeley. Fordham will then play Washington University in St. Louis and George Washington University on Saturday, before concluding the weekend on Sunday with a big showdown against Northeastern University.