ANNAPOLIS, MD – No. 16 University of Rochester men's squash recorded its second-straight win, kicking off its weekend road trip with a 5-4 victory over Navy on Saturday at the Prager Family Squash Facility.
 
The Yellowjackets and Midshipmen would keep things close throughout the contest, with Navy picking up the first point at the fifth spot with a 3-1 win for Lucas Spiro over UR's Arnav Mandhana (11-4, 6-11, 11-3, 11-2).
 
Rochester answered right back at the No. 4 spot with a 3-1 win for Tom Whiteley, as the UR senior topped Matthew Kang: 11-1, 6-11, 11-8, 11-6.
 
The Midshipmen briefly retook the lead with a victory at the seventh spot on the ladder, as Ramsay Killinger defeated Van Inman-Benavente, 3-1 (11-8, 11-2, 9-11, 11-8), but Rochester again quickly tied it with another win, this time a sweep, at the No. 2 spot.
 
Omar Zakaria topped Wenqing Tang, 11-9, 11-6, 14-12, to level the match at two-all, before Jake Koeppel gave the Yellowjackets their first lead of the match with a 3-1 win at the sixth spot on the ladder, downing Tighe Mullarkey in four games: 12-10, 7-11, 11-4, 13-11.
 
Up 3-2, Yash Fadte then made it 4-2 UR with another sweep at the top spot, making quick work on Navy's Matthew Wang: 11-3, 11-4, 11-4, before Dhirren Rajarathinam came up with the clincher.
 
Down to the last three matches, Rajarathinam clinched the victory for Rochester, securing UR's fifth point with another sweep, this time at the No. 3 spot over Alexander Orr: 11-6, 11-2, 11-8.
 
Navy would take the last two points at the eight and nine spots, as Avinash Uppuluri swept Nic Gill, 11-5, 11-8, 11-8, while Alejandro Porras and Michael Tierney battled for four games, with Tierney pulling out a 3-1 victory (11-5, 11-2, 9-11, 11-5) to cut the final deficit to just one point.
 
Also in exhibition action, Navy's Eli Levi topped UR's Preston Wu, 11-9, 11-6, 11-6.
 
With the win, the 16th-ranked Yellowjackets move to 4-6 on the year, while the Midshipmen drop to 14-7.
 
Rochester will wrap up its weekend in the Free State with a matchup against No. 13 Franklin and Marshall on Sunday, Feb. 2 at 12:00 p.m. in Baltimore, MD.