CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – In a closely contested match at the Murr Squash Center, the No. 5 Harvard men's squash team narrowly fell to the No. 6 Virginia Cavaliers, suffering its first defeat of the season. The Crimson (3-1, 1-0 Ivy) had a number of impressive individual efforts from its team members, but ultimately could not overcome an early deficit.
How it Happened
The Crimson and Virginia met for the sixth time in series history tonight at the Murr Squash Center in what was a battle between a pair of top 10 teams in college squash. In the first set of matches, the Crimson suffered a pair of losses that surrendered two early victories to Virginia. Lin dropped two games in tiebreaks during a close 0-3 loss at the three position while
Conner Stoltz could not hold off a rally from his opponent in the seventh matchup, falling 1-3.
Playing in the fourth spot on the ladder,
Neel Joshi helped Harvard battle back, earning a come-from behind win and a 3-1 result. After dropping the first game, Joshi rattled off three straight game wins to remain unbeaten individually in 2024-25. Next, First-year
Segev Rome flew to a win at the sixth pairing to level the score at two wins apiece. Virginia took back the lead with a victory at the ninth position, where
Marcus Lee dropped a competitive match.
The match of the night was the battle that ensued at the top of the ladder. After finding himself down 2-0 after the first pair of games,
David Costales roared back, winning the next three games – the fourth game going down as a 11-0 win for junior – to win the match 3-2. The comeback win would close out the second wave of matches with the score level at three wins per team.
Denis Gilevskiy kicked off the third wave with an impressive 3-0 win at the second position. Virginia once again fought back, getting the win at the eighth position where
Louis Murray was defeated after a series of competitive games. With the score tied at four wins a side, all the attention shifted to the fifth position that would determine the winner of the match.
Tate Harms was battling in his match, narrowly falling in the first game before enduring a marathon of a second game. Harms and his opponent traded shots and worked the score all the way up to 20-18 where it was eventually closed out by Harms' opposition. Virginia would go on to steal the match with a win at the five position, clinching a 5-4 victory over the Crimson.
Results
No. 5 Harvard – 4
No. 6 Virginia – 5
- David Costales def. Karim Elbarbary (UVA), 3-2 (5-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-0, 11-4)
- Denis Gilevskiy def. John Paul Tew (UVA), 3-0 (11-7, 11-7, 12-10)
- Juan Jose Torres (UVA) def. Jacob Lin, 3-0 (12-10, 11-3, 12-10)
- Neel Joshi def. Maxwell Velazquez (UVA), 3-1 (8-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-8)
- Dylan Moran (UVA) def. Tate Harms, 3-0 (11-7, 20-18, 11-9)
- Segev Rome def. Petr Nohel (UVA), 3-0 (11-6, 12-10, 11-5)
- Nathan Rosenzweig (UVA) def. Conner Stoltz, 3-1 (6-11, 11-7, 11-7, 13-11)
- Ewan Harris (UVA) def. Louis Murray, 3-0 (11-6, 12-10, 11-7)
- Francis Hajek (UVA) def. Marcus Lee, 3-0 (11-7, 11-5, 11-5)
Up Next
The Crimson will return to action on Jan. 11-12 with a road trip to Columbia and Cornell.
