Men's Squash Claims Biggest Win Since 2013, Knocks Off #5 Penn In Road Thriller

Any questions about just how far the Princeton men's squash team has come, and whether it could handle a tough road environment, were put to rest Wednesday night. The resurgent Tigers remained perfect in the Ivy League and picked up their highest-ranked victory of the Sean Wilkinson era with a thrilling 5-4 victory over Penn at the Ringe Squash Courts.

The drama came to a head on the main court, where standout Ivy League freshmen Youssef Ibrahim and Andrew Douglas battled to a brilliant fifth game in a rematch of the 2017 World Junior Championships quarterfinal match. Ibrahim led 2-1 before Douglas rallied in the fourth, but he took control again midway through the fifth and controlled the final points before a deep drive clinched an 11-5 win and the 5-4 victory.

That closed a complete effort from Princeton, which got the quick start it needed before closing it with two tight wins.

Freshman Duncan Joyce got the ball rolling with a 3-1 win over Derek Hsue at the #6 position. Joyce, now a remarkable 8-1 during his freshman season, showed impressive poise in his toughest road match of the season, and took over late to secure the opening win.

Senior Abhimanyu Shah, who admitted afterwards he has thought tirelessly about the 8-1 loss at Penn from 2016, was locked in a marathon at the #7 spot against Yash Bhargava. Shah, who has played a vital role in the transformation of the program as a four-year starter, found himself down match ball twice, but he showed a veteran poise in fighting both off and eventually going up 12-11. He forced a tin on the final point and ignited his Princeton teammates who gathered at his court to watch the finish.

As that was going on, the main court was watching a thriller at #2 between Princeton sophomore Adhitya Raghavan and Penn's Hayes Murphy. A capacity crowd brought the loudest roars of the night for every Murphy point, but Raghavan fed off the energy just as match. After dropping his first game, he battled back to win three tight games to give Princeton its third win.

Penn took matches at #4 and #8 to get within 3-2, but junior Cody Cortes picked up his 10^th straight Ivy League win 3-0 at the #5 position. Cortes built a 2-0 lead over Karim Tarek, but found himself 9-9 in a tough third game. While it was Tarek who rallied back to even in the game, Cortes had one more level to reach and played two strong points to finish 11-9.

Penn won at #9, which left a pair of Princeton freshmen with the opportunity to close the victory. That distinction went to Ibrahim, who overcame both a tough opponent and the Penn home crowd to move to 9-0 on the season. Classmate Cole Becker nearly pulled off a wild win of his own at #3, but he fell to former Quaker #1 Marwan Mahmoud 3-2.

Princeton improved to 8-1 with the win, 3-0 in the Ivy League, and now heads to New England with hopes of keeping its championship hopes alive. The Tigers will open the weekend Saturday afternoon at Harvard (noon) in a match that will be streamed live on the Ivy League Network.

PRINCETON 5, PENN 4
1 – Youssef Ibrahim (Pr) d. Andrew Douglas (9), 9, 5, (7), 6
2 – Adhitya Raghavan (Pr) d. Hayes Murphy (6), 4, 10, 6
3 – Marwan Mahmoud (Pe) d. Cole Becker (8), 6, (14), 7, 8
4 – David Yacobucci (Pe) d. Clark Doyle 7, 9, (9), 7
5 – Cody Cortes (Pr) d. Karim Tarek 8, 8, 9
6 – Duncan Joyce (Pr) d. Derek Hsue 8, (6), 7, 4
7 – Abhimanyu Shah (Pr) d. Yash Bhargava 6, (2), 7, (6), 10
8 – James Watson (Pe) d. Alex Engstrom 7, 3, 9
9 – Max Reed (Pe) d. Komron Shayegan 9, 8, 3

Hear from our senior co-captain Abhimanyu Shah following tonight's 5-4 thriller over Penn! pic.twitter.com/AlRkmgPD22
— Princeton MSQUASH (@princetonmsq) February 1, 2018

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