No. 10 Virginia Advances to Potter Cup Quarterfinals
PHILADELPHIA – The No. 10 Virginia men’s squash team (10-8) opened play at the 2024 CSA National Collegiate Squash Team Championships with a 5-4 victory against No. 7 Cornell (9-7) on Thursday (Feb. 29) at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center in Philadelphia, Pa.
With the victory, the Cavaliers advance to the Potter Cup quarterfinals, where they will face No. 2 Princeton (9-2) on Friday, March 1 at 11 a.m.
Cornell took an early 1-0 lead with a 3-0 win at position four, but junior CJ Baldini responded with an 12-10, 11-4, 5-11, 12-10 win at nine to tie it 1-1. The Big Red edged ahead again with a win at one, but freshman Krishna Mishra tied it up with a 13-11, 11-4, 11-7 win at five. Junior Max Velazquez gave the Cavaliers their first lead with an 11-8, 10-12, 11-5, 11-7 win at eight, but this time Cornell tied the match, taking a 3-1 win at position three to make it 3-3. Junior Petr Nohel had one of the quickest matches of the day, winning 11-7, 11-8, 11-2 to put the Cavaliers on the brink, 4-3.
Junior Evan Hajek trailed 2-1 in his match on seven. He won the fourth game 14-12 to make it 2-2. The fifth game went back and forth and was tied at 10-10, but Shreemann Raghavan won the final two points to take the decider and tie the overall match 4-4.
Sophomore JP Tew held a 2-0 lead in his match at two against Aaron Liang. The third game was tied 4-4 when Liang took an extended injury timeout. The match resumed right after Hajek’s match finished. Tew closed out an 11-6 win in the third game to clinch the victory for the Cavaliers.
Cornell and Virginia had wrapped up the regular season by facing one another on Feb. 18. The Big Red won that meeting 5-4, with the match being decided in a fifth game on the final remaining court. Of the nine times these two teams have faced one another, seven of the matches have been decided by 5-4 scores.
Princeton won the regular season meeting against the Cavaliers 8-1.
Virginia’s best-ever finish at the Potter Cup was fifth place in 2020. The team has finished in eighth place each of the last two seasons.
#10 Virginia 5, #7 Cornell 4
- Veer Chotrani (COR) def. Taha Dinana (VA) 11-9, 9-11, 11-4, 11-6
- JP Tew (VA) def. Aaron Liang (COR) 11-5, 11-7, 11-6
- Arnaav Sareen (COR) def. Myles McIntyre (VA) 4-11, 11-6, 11-7, 11-3
- Syan Singh (COR) def. Arhan Chandra (VA) 11-3, 11-5, 11-9
- Krishna Mishra (VA) def. Spencer Yager (COR) 13-11, 11-4, 11-7
- Petr Nohel (VA) def. Rohan Iyer (COR) 11-7, 11-8, 11-2
- Shreemann Raghavan (COR) def. Evan Hajek (VA) 8-11, 11-6, 11-7, 12-14, 12-10
- Maxwell Velazquez (VA) def. Morgan Huberman (COR) 11-8, 10-12, 11-5, 11-7
- CJ Baldini (VA) def. Tanay Punjabi (COR) 12-10, 11-4, 5-11, 12-10