The University of Rochester squash team was just a few points away from turning the tables and pulling an upset against 4th-ranked Trinity College on Tuesday afternoon, ultimately falling by a 6-3 score at the Lyman Squash Center.
 
10th-ranked Rochester (1-4) secured three team points, the most given up by Trinity this season in a match. In fact, the Bantams (8-0) had only surrendered three match points total across seven wins entering Tuesday's affair with the Yellowjackets.
 
UR earned wins from first-year's Yash Fadte and Jake Koeppel at #2 and #6, respectively, while junior co-captain Abdelrahman Lasheen earned the other win at #3.
 
The Yellowjackets also fell in five-set matches at #4 and #7, which if things turned the other way, would have led to a 5-4 UR win.
 
Trinity started with a 3-0 sweep at #1, with Mohamed Sharaf defeating Cesar Segundo 11-7, 12-10 and 11-9. The other two matches in the opening wave went five-games and were filled with excitement.
 
At seven, Emilio Carrillo opened with an 11-9 win over William Curtis. Curtis gained the lead with back-to-back wins by scored of 11-7 and 11-9. A terrific fourth set saw Carrillo even things up with a 14-12 triumph, but Curtis bounced back with a strong fifth game, winning 11-3 and taking the match.
 
The fourth position was a very similar match, as mid-season transfer Luis Moncada was taking part in his first match with the Yellowjackets against Ahmed Ismael. Moncada opened with a 12-10 win for UR. Ismael responded with 11-8 and 12-10 wins in the next two sets, before Moncada ripped off an 11-2 win to level the score. In the fifth, Ismael stayed steady and emerged with an 11-4 win, putting the Bantams up 3-0 in the team score.
 
In the second wave, Trinity opened with a 3-0 win at #9 to surge ahead 4-0, forcing Rochester to be perfect the rest of the way to secure the win.
 
Lasheen got Rochester on the board with a thrilling 5-game win at #3 against Marwan ElBorolossy. UR's co-captain won the opening two games 11-9 and 11-8, putting himself in a strong spot. ElBorolossy answered with a 7-11 win in the third and gutted out a 13-11 win in the fourth to tie up the match. In the fifth, Lasheen fended off the rally and won 11-3 for his second win of the season.
 
The next two matches, at #8 and #5, finished within moments of one another, with both going to visiting Trinity.
 
Khamal Cumberbatch won the clinching point with a 3-0 win at #8 for the Bantams. That was followed closely by Danial Izham's win in four games (11-9, 5-11, 11-7, 12-10) over Omar Zakaria at the #5 slot.
 
The Yellowjackets didn't give up though and finished strong with two 3-0 wins from first-years.
 
Fadte was impressive at #2, winning in three games over Ali El Toukhy. Fadte seemed poised throughout the match, winning 11-9, 11-7 and 11-7.
 
Koeppel seemed to get better each game as his match went on against Mateo Restrepo. After the two battled to a 14-12 score in the opening game, Koeppel, already up 1-0, went on to post 11-9 and 11-4 wins in the next two games to secure the sweep and reach the final score of 6-3.
 
Rochester's scheduled match for this Friday against Western University has been postponed due to travel issues, so the next Yellowjacket squash match is set for February 2nd at home against Cornell.