In a matchup of two closely ranked teams in the College Squash Association rankings, visiting Western University topped the University of Rochester Squash team by a 6-3 score on Friday evening at the Lyman Squash Center.
 
Western (2-4) entered the match with a slight edge in the rankings, sitting 14th on the most recent CSA list, with Rochester (1-4) being 15th in the same poll.
 
The matchup featured several close matches, but the Mustangs were able to come out on top after a quick start.
 
The opening wave saw all three matches go to Western. In the four spot, Antonio Mendes topped Tom Whiteley in four games for the opening point, with Daniel Deverill earning a 3-1 win as well over Dhirren Rajarathinam. Rajarathinam won the opening game 11-7, but Deverill rattled off three straight wins to put Western up 2-0.
 
In the seven spot, Rio Schafer made it a first wave sweep with a 3-0 victory against Van Inman-Benavente.
 
After Western's Griffin Manley topped Preston Wu in three games to go up 4-0 on the scoreboard, the Yellowjackets stayed alive with wins from Arnav Mandhana (#6) and Yash Fadte (#1) to close the second set of matches.
 
Mandhana battled William Znidarec and posted a 3-1 win, with all four games being tightly contested. Mandhana earned his victory by scores of 11-8, 9-11, 14-12 and 14-12.
 
At the top spot, Fadte took on Dylan Deverill and needed to rally in the final two games to earn a 3-2, five-set victory. After winning the first game 11-7, the Western player surged in front with 11-5 and 12-10 wins. Fadte wasn't fazed though, completing the comeback for his point with 11-4 and 11-7 wins to close out the match.
 
While Fadte was finishing up the second wave, the third set of matches was already underway on another court, with Western's number eight player Tyson Schille winning in a sweep over Nic Gill to post the clinching point.
 
At five, another five-set match between Josh Kay and Jake Koeppel ended in favor of Western, before Omar Zakaria completed the night with a 3-0 sweep at number two against Amin Khan.
 
In the five-set affair between Kay and Koeppel, the two players alternated wins in all five games. Kay won 11-3 in the first, before Koeppel responded 11-9 in the second. After Kay went back in front following an 11-6 win, Koeppel stayed alive winning 11-7 in the fourth. During the tiebreaking fifth game, Kay emerged with an 11-9 victory to swipe the point.
 
During Zakaria's sweep, the Yellowjacket senior posted scores of 11-6, 11-4 and 12-10 for Rochester's lone 3-0 victory on the night.
 
Rochester is back in action during its 3-match home weekend on Saturday afternoon with a tilt against top-ranked Penn at 4 pm.