No. 8 Virginia Tops No. 16 Brown 5-4
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 8 Virginia men’s squash team (8-3) edged No. 16 Brown (2-4) on Wednesday (Jan. 15), capturing a 5-4 win at the McArthur Squash Center.
The Cavaliers opened the match with freshman Aly Hussein (Cairo, Egypt) splitting a pair of wins from Brown, in positions seven and six, to capture the first point for UVA with a 11-6, 11-8, 11-7 win over Maximo Moyer in position one. Freshman Teddy Durfee (Bedford, N.Y.) followed with an 11-6, 11-3, 11-5 win over William Glaser in position nine to even the score at 2-2.
Brown recorded a win in position four, but freshman Omar El Torkey (New Cariro, Egypt) tied the match at 3-3, going 11-3, 11-7, 11-8 against Grant Sterman in position two.
The Bears again took the lead after winning a five-game match in position five. However, for the second consecutive game, senior Toby Hansford (Darien, Conn.) secured a 4-4 tie for the Cavaliers with his win in position eight. Hansford defeated Raghav Pemmireddy 11-9, 11-8, 11-5 to keep the UVA alive and force the deciding point to be determined in the final match of the day.
Sophomore Will Holey (Greenwich, Conn.) dropped his first game to Declan McCarthy 8-11 before responding with an 11-2 victory in the second game. The sophomore captured an 11-5 win in the third game to give him a 2-1 advance. He clinched the position-three win and the match point with a fourth-game score of 11-7.
“Another 5-4 (win) for the men, which is our second this season, on top of the 11 we had last season,” head coach Mark Allen said. “We have won 11 of these 13 5-4 matches, 85 percent, and I think that speaks volumes for their willingness to fight for each other when it matters most – someone always seems to find a way to win, and they have all taken a turn at being the hero. Tonight it was Will Holey, who came from one game down to pull out the last win. Will’s been playing some great squash in our internal challenge matches and seeing him replicate that form tonight when it mattered most was a huge breakthrough for him. These guys are real warriors – even when they don’t come out playing their best squash, every single one of them puts their heart and soul into their effort, and as a coach you can’t ask more than that.”
Virginia will return to action on Saturday as the Cavaliers face No. 14 Cornell (3-4) at Pennsylvania’s Penn Squash Courts. The match is set to begin at 4:30 p.m.
No. 8 Virginia def. No. 16 Brown
Order of Finish (7, 1, 6, 9, 4, 2, 5, 8, 3)
1 | Aly Hussein (UVA) def. Maximo Moyer (B) 11-6, 11-8, 11-7
2 | Omar El Torkey (UVA) def. Grant Sterman (B) 11-3, 11-7, 11-8
3 | Will Holey (UVA) def. Declan McCarthy (B) 8-11, 11-2, 11-5, 11-7
4 | Andrew Wei (B) def. Cullen Little (UVA) 9-11, 11-3, 11-8, 11-8
5 | Ahmed Amin (B) def. Glenn Yates (UVA) 7-11, , 8-11, 11-0, 11-3, 12-10
6 | Nicholas Pitaro (B) def. Peter Miller (UVA) 11-8, 11-9, 11-9
7 | Harrison Boyer (B) def. William Braff (UVA) 12-10, 11-8, 11-4
8 | Toby Hansford (UVA) def. Raghav Pemmireddy (B) 11-9, 11-8, 11-5
9 | Teddy Durfee (UVA) def. William Glaser (B) 11-6, 11-3, 11-5
Exh| Andrew Braff (UVA) def. Julian Wambach (B) 11-2, 11-6, 15-13