Over the last four meetings entering Friday, the Rochester and Western squash teams had been closely ranked and were separated by razor thin margins on the scoreboard.
 
Friday's match at the Lyman Squash Center proved to be no different, with visiting Western University emerging with a 5-4 victory over the Yellowjackets in an early-season matchup of closely ranked CSA squads.
 
Rochester (1-2) was #19 in the first regular season poll in the College Squash Association after splitting a pair of opening weekend matches to start November. Western (1-0), entered the season at #18 in the CSA and picks up a key win at the early stages of the season.
 
On the night, five of the nine matches went to five games, with one other needing four sets to decide a winner.
 
Thomas Valderrama got things started with a win at number six for Rochester, defeating Arin Khot 11-2, 11-8 and 11-8.
 
Western answered though with a pair of wins to take a 2-1 lead after the opening wave. At nine, Eesa Huq outlasted Victor Xu in five games, 9-11, 11-2, 11-7, 5-11 and 11-8, while Josh Kay dispatched Arjith Mathew in four (10-12, 11-7, 11-4, 12-10) at the number three spot in the ladder.
 
Rochester returned the favor in wave two, winning two of the three matches to level the overall match score at 3-3.
 
Western's William Znidarec and UR's Kareem Azzam needed five games to decide a winner at number four, with Znidarec edging out the 'Jacket first-year 8-11, 11-7, 11-7, 8-11, 11-5 to put the Mustangs up 3-1.
 
At two, Dhirren Rajarathinam swept Rohan Paliwal 11-9, 11-8 and 11-2 to get the 'Jackets another win, before Karim Moataz rallied to defeat Dylan Erb in five games, leveling the match. After winning the opening game 11-8, Moataz fell 7-11 and 10-12 to trail 2-1, before completing a comeback with 11-9 and 11-6 wins in the final two games.
 
Another five-set match was the first to finish in the final wave. At five, Liam McKay took on Van Inman-Benavente and emerged with a narrow win, claiming a 13-15, 11-9, 11-6, 10-12 and 11-5 win.
 
Up 4-3 in the overall match, the Mustangs just needed one more point to clinch the win, with Rio Schafer earning that victory at number seven in a sweep (11-8, 11-5, 11-4) over Preston Wu.
 
The final match on court was at number one, with Rochester's Gilberto Aceves Moreno earning a five-game win (10-12, 11-4, 14-12, 9-11, 11-7) over Daniel Deverill.
 
A three-match, three-team weekend schedule continues at the Lyman Squash Center with Western taking on #13 MIT on Saturday afternoon. The weekend concludes with Rochester hosting MIT on Sunday at noon.