HARTFORD, Conn. – The second-ranked Harvard men's squash team dropped its first match of the season this afternoon to the fourth-ranked Trinity Bantams by a score of 3-6. The Crimson (6-1, 3-0 Ivy) suffered its first loss to the Bantams since the 2018 campaign.
 
The match began with the two, five and nine matches that saw Omar Azzam, Denis Gilevskiy and Ishant Shah take the courts, respectively. Azzam's match was the first to finish up, ending a 1-3 loss to Trinity, marking Azzam's first loss of the season. Denis Gilevskiy had his match level at 1-1 heading into the third game but could not hold off a rally by his opposition, as he would eventually fall, 3-1. Ishant Shah picked up the win at the ninth pairing after yet another wild back-and-forth match. After falling behind 0-2, Shah rallied to win three straight, including the fifth game, in a 3-2 victory.
 
The second wave saw Ido Burstein, Liam Rotzoll and Neel Joshi head into the courts looking to even the score against Trinity. After Burstein and Rotzoll fell in a pair of 0-3 decisions, Joshi rallied to win his match at the eighth pairing, 3-1, making the score 4-2 in favor of the Bantams.
 
Harvard turned to the trio of David Costales, Tate Harms and Jacob Lin at the first, fourth and seventh pairings, respectively, to mount a Crimson comeback attempt. Harms captured the point at the fourth pairing, defeating his opponent 3-1. Harms rallied to win three consecutive games after falling in the opener to bring the score to 4-3, Trinity.
 
David Costales built a two-games-to-one lead on his opponent at the top of the ladder, but could not hold off a late rally, eventually falling 3-2 after a match that lasted over 90 minutes. Jacob Lin suffered the same fate, falling 3-2 at the seventh matchup to close out the match.
 
Trinity walked away with a 6-3 victory over the Crimson after a highly competitive afternoon of action.
 

RESULTS

No. 2 Harvard - 3
No. 4 Trinity – 6
 
1- Mohamed Sharaf (TC) def. David Costales, 3-2 (7-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-2, 11-7)
2 - Aly Eltokhy (TC) def. Omar Azzam, 3-1 (11-1, 11-6, 10-12, 11-3)
3 - Joachim Chuah (TC) def. Ido Burstein, 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5)
4 - Tate Harms def. Benedek Takacs (TC), 3-1 (8-11, 11-3, 11-7, 11-7)
5 - Abdelrahman Nassar (TC) def. Denis Gilevskiy, 3-1 (11-1, 7-11, 11-7, 11-6)
6 - Marawan ElBorolossy (TC) def. Liam Rotzoll, 3-0 (11-4, 11-4, 11-6)
7 - Khamal Cumberbatch (TC) def. Jacob Lin, 3-2 (5-11, 11-7, 4-11, 11-7, 11-6)
8 - Neel Joshi def. Mateo Restrepo (TC), 3-1 (8-11, 11-9, 11-4, 11-8)
9 - Ishant Shah def. Daniel Simon (TC), 3-2 (8-11, 6-11, 11-8, 13-11, 11-4)