Squash Opens Season with Sweep at Vassar Round Robin

Poughkeepsie, N.Y. – The Fordham squash squad opened the 2018-2019 in fashion, going a perfect 4-0 at the Vassar Round Robin Tournament at Vassar College. The Rams defeated Vassar, 7-2, Lehigh, 8-1, Boston University, 6-1, and Bryant, 7-0. In the opening match, Fordham took the first seven positions with Patrick Rodden defeating Caden Gruber at the first slot (11-8, 11-6, 11-2) while Griffin Fitzgerald took down Alex Wisneski at the second (11-6, 11-5, 11-8) and Tommy White was victorious at the third over Henry Mitchell (11-0, 11-5, 11-4). Winthrop Reed, Justin Esposito, Justin Deckoff and Dylan Panichello also turned in wins for the Rams at the fourth though seventh positions, respectively. In the Lehigh match, Rodden took the first position from Sam Ghorashi (11-4, 12-10, 11-4) while Fitzgerald won at the second (12-10, 11-9, 8-11, 11-2) and White at the third (11-5, 11-4, 11-8). The Rams also picked up points at the fourth through eighth spots with victories from Reed (4), Esposito (5), Deckoff (6), Henry Poehlein (7) and Panichello (8). In the won over Boston University, Fordham won six of the seven matches player with Rodden defeating Hunter Chun at the first spot in a marathon session (8-11, 11-5, 3-11, 12-10, 12-10) while White won at the third over Stefano Viacava (11-9, 11-5, 11-3) and Reed won at four over Matthew Wallace (11-6, 11-6, 11-9). Esposito (5), Deckoff (6), and Panichello (7) also won for the Rams. In the final match of the day, the Rams blanked Bryant, winning all seven spots in three sets. Rodden stayed perfect on the day with an 11-3, 11-4, 11-1 win over Yovraj Duggal while Fitzgerald won at the second position over Uthes Tadisetty (11-2, 11-3, 11-1) and White remained perfect on the day with an 11-6, 11-5, 11-1 victory over Ullas Tadisetty. Reed also stayed perfect on the day with a win over Shameil Maria (11-2, 11-6, 11-0) at the fourth spot as did Esposito , who defeated Aatman Bajaria (11-1, 11-1, 11-5) at the fifth and Deckoff, an 11-3, 11-3, 11-5 winner over Jia Yi Tan at the sixth position. Dylan Panichello was also 4-0 on the day after a win over Aleksi Gottlieb (11-2, 11-6, 11-5). The Rams return to action on Friday, November 9, as they travel to Baltimore, Maryland, top face Johns Hopkins and then continue south to compete in the Navy Invitational from November 9-11.