The #19/seventh-seeded Middlebury men's squash team upset #14/second-seeded University of Rochester 5-4 in a back-and-forth battle on Friday during the College Squash Association (CSA) Hoehn Cup Quarterfinals in Philadelphia.
 
HIGHLIGHTS

• The Yellowjackets claimed the first point with a win in the top spot of the ladder.
• Charlie Clifford leveled the match at 1-1 with a victory at #7. Trailing 1-0, the Panther claimed games two and three before Rochester's Jacob Koeppel posted an 11-5 in the fourth. Clifford edged Koeppel 11-8 in the fifth game for a 7-11, 11-7, 11-4, 5-11, 11-8 triumph.
• In the middle of the ladder, Caleb Boateng outlasted Arnav Mandhana at #5. Down 1-0, Boateng answered with 11-7 and 11-4 victories in the second and third games. Mandhana earned an 11-9 win, but Boateng put the Panthers ahead with an 11-4 score in the decisive fifth.
• Rochester tied the score (2-2) with a five-game win in the second spot.
• Theo Kogan regained the lead for Middlebury, posting an 11-7, 11-7, 11-5 victory at #6 against Thomas Valderrama.
• The Yellowjackets took the lead back, tallying a four-game decision at #8 followed by a sweep in the third slot for a 4-3 edge.
• Gabe Feinstein battled in the third position for the Panthers, sneaking past Rochester's Tom Whiteley in three games by tallies of 13-11, 12-10 and 11-4.
• The attention turned to the battle at #9 between Middlebury's David Zhao and Yellowjacket Nicholas Gill. Zhao won the first two games by scores of 11-6 and 11-8 before Gill earned a hard-fought 14-12 decision in the third. Zhao clinched the match with an 11-7 decision in the fourth game to give the Panthers a thrilling 5-4 victory.

NOTES

• Feinstein's sweep at #4 was his 10th triumph this winter.
• The Panthers secure their 10th win, marking the third-straight season and the fourth time in the last six with double-digit victories.
• Middlebury is making its 17th appearance at the championships and secured a spot in the Hoehn Cup for the fifth time overall.
• The Panthers and the Yellowjackets met for the second-straight year and the fourth time overall, as Friday's match was the second meeting in postseason play between the programs.

Middlebury advances to the Hoehn Cup Semifinals where they square off with #15/third-seeded Franklin & Marshall on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. The programs met earlier this season on January 12 with the Diplomats claiming an 8-1 triumph.