AMHERST, Mass. -- The Bates men's squash team finished as the conference runner-up to Trinity for the second year in a row on Sunday, as the No. 2 nationally ranked Bantams defeated the No. 16 Bobcats 8-1 to win the NESCAC Men's Squash Championship for the 11th time in the tournament's 11-year history.
The loss ends a 10-match winning streak for the Bobcats (14-3). Trinity rose to 14-1 on the year.
Bates senior
Ahmed Hatata (Alexandria, Egypt) won at the No. 1 position to claim Bates' lone point, taking three out of four games from the Bantams' No. 1 player, Rick Penders (11-6, 11-6, 12-14, 11-8), to raise his record against the conference power to 3-0 in NESCAC Championship play. Bates' three-time All-American also scored one year ago at the No. 2 position when Bates fell 7-2 to Trinity in the 2016 NESCAC championship match, and he also won in the 2015 tournament when Bates fell 7-2 to the Bantams in the tournament semifinals.
Bates fell 3-0 in all remaining eight matches on the ladder, but the Bobcats were competitive in each one. At positions 2 and 3, first-year
Mahmoud Yousry (Cairo, Egypt) and senior
Darrius Campbell (St. Stephen, S.C.) fell 11-9 in the first games of their matches against Thoboki Mohohlo and Michael Craig.Â
Senior captain
Spencer Burt (Portland, Ore.) and sophomore
Coley Cannon (Greenwich, Conn.) both fell by 11-6, 11-6, 11-6 scores at the fifth and sixth positions, respectively.
Bates next competes at College Squash Association Team Nationals, taking place at Harvard University Feb. 17-19, with matchups and tournament brackets to be determined.
Trinity 8, Bates 1
NESCAC Men's Squash Championship Match
Feb. 5, 2017 at Amherst, Mass. (Davenport Squash Courts)
1.
Ahmed Hatata (BATES) def. Rick Penders (TRINITY) 11-6, 11-6, 12-14, 11-8
2. Thoboki Mohohlo (TRINITY) def.
Mahmoud Yousry (BATES) 11-9, 11-2, 11-3
3. Michael Craig (TRINITY) def.
Darrius Campbell (BATES) 11-9, 11-2, 11-4
4. Tom De Mulder (TRINITY) def.
Anirudh Nambiar (BATES) 11-4, 11-8, 11-4
5. Affeeq Ismail (TRINITY) def.
Spencer Burt (BATES) 11-6, 11-6, 11-6
6. Omar Allaudin (TRINITY) def.
Coley Cannon (BATES) 11-6, 11-6, 11-6
7. James Evans (TRINITY) def.
Graham Bonnell (BATES) 11-3, 11-8, 11-4
8. Andrew Lee (TRINITY) def.
McLeod Abbott (BATES) 11-5, 11-3, 11-2
9. Nichals Giacco (TRINITY) def.
Carlos Ames (BATES) 11-4, 11-3, 11-5
