The Harvard men’s squash team, ranked No. 2 nationally, faced a tough contest against No. 3 Penn in Philadelphia on Saturday. Despite winning three matches, the Crimson fell to the Quakers by a score of 6-3. The result leaves both teams with identical Ivy League records of 4-1 as they head into the final match of the regular season.
Both teams are among the three remaining contenders for the Ivy League title this year, which will be decided after their respective last conference matches.
Penn secured its win through strong performances at the top positions. The Quakers earned straight-set victories at first and second singles and took a four-game win at third singles. In one of those matches, Harvard’s Omar Azzam managed to take a game but lost in four sets. Christian Capella also won a game at fourth singles before falling 1-3.
Harvard’s first-year players Maddox Moxham and Alexander Broadbridge contributed wins at fifth and sixth singles respectively, each claiming victory in four games after dropping their opening games. Ishant Shah added another point for Harvard with his own 3-1 win.
Other close contests included Jacob Lin’s match at seventh singles; he won his opening game but dropped the next three to lose in four games. Penn completed its tally with a straight-set win at eighth singles.
The full results were:
1 – Omar Hafez (Penn) def. Denis Gilevskiy, 3-0 (11-5, 11-1, 11-4)
2 – Salman Khalil (Penn) def. David Costales, 3-0 (11-4, 11-2, 11-6)
3 – Marwan Abdelsalam (Penn) def. Omar Azzam, 3-1 (12-14, 15-13, 11-8, 11-7)
4 – Alexander Dartnell (Penn) def. Christian Capella, 3-1 (11-7, 11-8, 2-11, 11-4)
5 – Maddox Moxham def. Rustin Wiser (Penn), 3-1 (5-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-3)
6 – Alexander Broadbridge def. Zane Patel (Penn), 3-1 (5-11, 11-4, 11-9, 11-6)
7 – Rehan Luthra (Penn) def. Jacob Lin, 3–1 (7–11,
(continued below due to format limitations)
Next up for Harvard is an away match against Princeton on Sunday afternoon to close out the regular season.
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With one regular season match left against Princeton—currently ranked eighth—Harvard remains in contention for an Ivy League championship share.
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“Harvard will close out its regular season tomorrow afternoon when it travels to Princeton to take on the eighth-ranked Tigers,” according to the team statement.
“The match is set to begin at noon with all action streaming live on the Ivy League streaming platform,” Harvard added.
