No. 5 Men’s Squash Holds Off No. 8 Yale in 5-4 Victory

Friday, January 27

Kline & Specter Squash Center

2 p.m.

Drexel University

No. 8 Yale

No. 5 Men’s Squash Holds Off No. 8 Yale in 5-4 Victory

1/27/2017 7:58:00 PM | Men's Squash

PHILADELPHIA – The No. 5 Drexel men's squash team (9-4) won its first match ever over the No. 8 Yale Bulldogs (3-5) by a final of 5-4 on Friday evening. The win came with Drexel's highest rank ever as the Dragons came in as No. 5 to the match.

Drexel got wins out of its top four positions, but the victory was not secured until the final point of the No. 1 match.

Freshman Lucas Rousselet turned in the first win of the evening for Drexel as he took down Yale's Kah Wah Cheong in straight games, 15-13, 13-11, 11-6, from the No. 3.

Junior Luke Willemse won his ninth-straight match in a thrilling, five-game fashion on Friday for Drexel's second win. The South African native found himself trailing 2-1 after three games but won the fourth and the fifth for the comeback victory from the No. 6 position. The junior moved to a team-best 11-2 on the campaign and has not dropped a match since November 20, 2016.

Sophomore Bransten Ming tied the match up at 3-all with his five-game win over Yale's TJ Dembinski, 12-10, 10-12, 5-11, 11-7, 14-12. Like Willemse, Ming trailed 2-1 but forced a fifth game. Late in the final game while Ming held a 9-4 lead, the ball died, which forced the entry of a new ball into match. The delay and subsequent warmup helped Dembinski get back into the match as he ended up coming back to tie the game up before Ming won the fifth, 14-12.

Senior Michael Thompson turned in a sweep from the No. 4, 11-9, 11-7, 11-7, to put Drexel up 4-3 in the match.

Junior Noel Solomon had a 2-0 lead on Yale's Arjun Kochhar, but Kochhar mounted a comeback in five games to tie it back up at 4-all.

In the midst of it all, sophomore Omar El Atmas had a two-game lead on Yale's Spencer Lovejoy. As the last match standing, El Atmas finished it off in the third, 11-3, 11-5, 15-13, to clinch the victory for the Dragons.

Drexel returns to action on Sunday, Jan. 29 against Dartmouth. Action begins at 10 a.m. from the Kline & Specter Squash Center in Drexel's Daskalakis Athletic Center.

No. 5 Drexel 5, No. 8 Yale 4
1 | Omar El Atmas (Drexel) def. Spencer Lovejoy (Yale); 11-3, 11-5, 15-13
2 | Bransten Ming (Drexel) def. TJ Dembinski (Yale); 12-10, 10-12, 5-11, 11-7, 14-12
3 | Lucas Rousselet (Drexel) def. Kah Wah Cheong (Yale); 15-13, 13-11, 11-6
4 | Michael Thompson (Drexel) def. Liam McClintock (Yale); 11-9, 11-7, 11-7
5 | Max Martin (Yale) def. Atticus Kelly (Drexel); 11-5, 11-9, 11-6
6 | Luke Willemse (Drexel) def. Thomas Kingshott (Yale); 11-9, 8-11, 9-11, 11-4, 11-8
7 | Arjun Kochhar (Yale) def. Noel Solomon (Drexel); 9-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-5
8 | Pierson Broadwater (Yale) def. Joshua Hughes (Drexel); 11-13, 11-7, 11-1, 5-11, 11-6
9 | Calvin McCafferty (Yale) def. Mostafa Aboul Makarim (Drexel); 11-8, 4-11, 13-11, 11-6

Order of Finish: 9, 3, 6, 5, 8, 2, 4, 7, 1