The Virginia men’s squash team defeated George Washington men’s squash 7-2 Friday night at the Matthew J. Grossman Squash Courts in Washington, D.C. The No. 9 Cavaliers (5-0) dominated the No. 8 Colonials (1-1) in their first road game of the season.
Freshman players such as Omar El Torkey and Aly Hussein continued their strong starts to their collegiate careers, while some familiar faces — including sophomore Patrick McElroy and junior William Braff — also secured victories.
The competition began with El Torkey coming out strong for Virginia, winning 3-0 from position two.
Next up was freshman Cullen Little, who conceded one point to freshman David Varela but ultimately came out victorious 3-1 in position six.
Freshman Teddy Durfee went down early 2-0 in position eight, facing George Washington junior Lucas Stauffer. However, Durfee rallied to win his next three games, gaining another point for the Cavaliers.
Next came Hussein at the top of the ladder, who swept opposing freshman Mohammad Al-Terki for a 3-0 Virginia victory.
Braff beat senior Juan Laguna 3-1 in position seven — 11-8, 3-11, 11-5, 11-2 — and redshirt freshman Peter Miller had a hard-fought victory against freshman Ian Blatchford in position nine, ultimately winning 3-2 to stretch the lead for the Cavaliers. McElroy beat freshman Karim Thabet 3-2 — 5-11, 11-9, 11-5, 9-11, 11-3 — for yet another Virginia point in position four.
Virginia had only two losses on the night, from sophomore Glenn Yates and sophomore Will Holey. Holey, who played senior Jamie Oakley, fought hard to stretch the competition to four matches. Yates, who played junior Inaki De Larrauri, fought all three matches to within three points, notably stretching his second match to a score of 18-16.
The Cavaliers will next travel to play No. 4 Princeton University Friday at 4 p.m., in another top 10 matchup.