CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The No. 4 Harvard men's squash program was victorious this afternoon in its final home match of the regular season. The Crimson (8-3, 5-2 Ivy) earned a hard-fought win over the No. 7 Columbia Lions to close the Murr Center for the year. The Crimson outlasted its Ivy League foe in a match that lasted over four-and-a-half hours from start to finish.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Crimson hosted the Lions in what would be the team's final regular season match at the Murr Squash Center in the 2023-24 season. The program celebrated its two seniors,
Ido Burstein and
Liam Rotzoll, in a pre-match ceremony as a part of its senior day ceremony.
After the ceremony concluded, the Crimson got right to work, opening up a 2-1 lead after the first wave of matches. The first result to come in was at the seventh pairing, where
Jacob Lin fell in a competitive match, 2-3. Facing an 0-2 holem Lin rallied back to force a fifth game where he eventually fell, 6-11.
Ido Burstein picked him up by capturing a 3-0 win at the third matchup. Earning a win in his final match at the Murr, Burstein posted a 3-0 victory that featured a 12-10 win in a thrilling final game.
Liam Rotzoll gave the Crimson a 2-1 lead after rallying to win his match at the sixth pairing, 3-1. The other Crimson senior found himself tied at one game apiece before winning back-to-back games to close out the match.
Denis Gilevskiy earned the Crimson's fourth point of the day, sprinting to a 3-0 win at the fifth pairing. Gilevskiy outscored his opponent 33-9 to win in convincing fashion.
Omar Azzam won his match at the two spot on the ladder, earning a 3-1 victory. Azzam and his opponent split the first two games before Azzam strung together and 11-6 and 11-4 wins to take the victory.
David Costales put another check in the win column for Harvard to clinch the match by capturing a victory at the top of the ladder. Costales put together a strong showing on his home court, winning three consecutive games while outscoring his opponent, 33-12 in Harvard's fifth win of the afternoon.
Conner Stoltz had his opponent on the ropes in the nine matchup, leading 2-0 after the first two games. His Columbia opponent managed to rally and win the next three games to earn the victory.
Tate Harms closed out the scoring for the Crimson with a thrilling 3-2 win in a marathon matchup at the four spot. After falling in the first game in a tiebreak, Harms evened the score with an 11-7 win in the second, taking the lead in the third with an 11-5 win. His opponent stormed back to win the fourth, bringing the match to a fifth-game. Harms found himself down 8-4 in the final game before rattling off seven straight points to get his team-leading 10
th victory of the season.
Neel Joshi's match at eight was the final result to come in, ending in a narrow 2-3 defeat. Joshi lost two close games to begin the match (10-12, 11-13) before rallying to force a fifth game with 11-1 and 11-5 wins in the third and fourth games. Joshi came out on the wrong side of an 11-9 result in the final game, bringing a halt to his comeback.
The Crimson earned a 6-3 victory in the match to push its win total to eight and finish its Ivy League schedule with a 5-2 mark.
RESULTS
No. 4 Harvard – 6
No. 7 Columbia - 3
1 -
David Costales def. Franklyn Smith (COL), 3-0 (11-3, 11-2, 11-7)
2 -
Omar Azzam def. Harold Castiaux (COL), 3-1 (11-6, 7-11, 11-6, 11-4)
3 -
Ido Burstein def. Shaurya Bawa (COL), 3-0 (11-3, 11-7, 12-10)
4 -
Tate Harms def. Laszlo Godde (COL), 3-2 (10-12, 11-7, 11-5, 7-11, 11-8)
5 -
Denis Gilevskiy def. Jacob Bulbulia (COL), 3-0 (11-1, 11-4, 11-4)
6 -
Liam Rotzoll def. Zach Nam (COL), 3-1 (11-6, 4-11, 11-8, 11-7)
7 - Paarth Ambani (COL) def.
Jacob Lin, 3-2 (11-2, 11-9, 2-11, 5-11, 6-11)
8 - Rutvik Rau (COL) def.
Neel Joshi, 3-2 (12-10, 13-11, 3-11, 1-11, 11-9)
9 - Adam Goad (COL) def.
Conner Stoltz, 3-2 (6-11, 10-12, 11-5, 11-8. 11-7)
Order of Finish: 7, 3, 6, 5, 2, 9, 1, 4, 8
