The second half of the second season for the Drexel men’s and women’s squash teams began in earnest Jan. 19, as both sides faced Colby College and Bowdoin College in New Haven, Conn.. Both teams got split results in their respective matches, beating Colby and losing to Bowdoin.
The main contributors for both teams’ wins against Colby came primarily from their top respective players. The top four seeds got four out of Drexel’s five points in the men’s 5-4 victory, with the deciding fifth win coming from sophomore Harshil Dokania at No. 7. Dokania was down 2 sets to 1 in his match and was dangerously close to losing the fourth set before coming back to win it 11-9 and then winning the fifth and final frame 11-7 for the match win. The women got wins from their first, third, fifth, sixth, seventh and ninth seeds for a 6-3 win. The most brilliant win of the match was by No. 7 senior Atigah Shahrin, who had a perfect 11-0, 11-0, 11-0 performance. The team win against Colby was the women’s second of the year and the first since defeating Connecticut College 8-1 Nov. 17 in their home opener.
Fortunes were reversed, however, for both sides, in their next matches against Bowdoin. Both teams lost, but under different circumstances. The men lost a tough one 5-4 despite once again getting wins from their top players: sophomore Ibrahim Bakir at No. 1, junior Justin Singh at No. 2, freshman Binura Jayasuriya at No. 3 and freshman Joey Gingold at No. 4. The Drexel women lost their match to Bowdoin 3-6, getting individual wins from freshman Damindhi Udangawa, sophomore Davila Thompson and sophomore Kiran Vasudevan.
The men’s team (3-8) will be on the road Jan. 25-26 against Hobart College, Hamilton College, the University of Vermont and Northeastern University, while the women’s team (2-8) will take part in the Smith Round Robin tournament in Northampton, Mass.