Jan. 20, 2008

Bowdoin 7, F&M 2

F&M 9, Colby 0

Bates 7, F&M 2

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Franklin & Marshall's men's squash team swept Colby 9-0 and fell 7-2 to both Bowdoin and Bates in competition over the weekend. The Diplomats are now 8-5 on the season.

Sadiq Madraswala, Chris Gagnier, Benjamin Lurio, and Zarir Aibara each went 2-1 on the weekend. F&M swept the first two positions in the loss to Bowdoin and took the eighth and ninth position in the loss to Bates.

F&M's top player, Madraswala, defeated Bowdoin's Palmer Higgins 3-0 (9-2, 9-3, 9-3), and needed five games to knock off Colby's Jake Leiby, 9-0, 10-8, 8-10, 6-9, 9-3. He was swept by Bates' Ricky Weisskopf on Sunday, 9-3, 9-0, 9-1. The loss was Madraswala's first of the season in the first position. He is now 8-4 overall.

Gagnier (7-6) needed four games to sack Bowdoin's Jacob Sack. Gagnier went up 2-0 before Sack halted the sweep with a 9-7 win in the third. Gagnier clinched with a 9-0 win in the fourth. He proceeded to sweep Colby's Justin Russell before suffering the same fate against Bates' Sean Wilkinson.

Lurio (10-3) closed out the weekend with back-to-back wins in the eighth position, while Aibara (9-4) achieved the same in the ninth. Lurio's five game loss to Bowdoin's Robert Lynn is the freshman's only blemish in his last six matches. He posted a 3-0 sweep of Colby's Steve Holt, and a 3-2 win over Bates' Chip Russell.

Aibara's loss to Bowdoin's Thai Ha-ngoc was his only loss in his last six as well. Ha-ngoc won 9-5, 10-8, 9-5. Aibara then swept Ken Cramer 9-2, 9-2, 9-3 and downed Bates' 8-10, 9-5, 9-7, 10-8.

F&M is idle until the weekend when the Diplomats make their final home stand of the season facing Trinity (Conn.) on Saturday, and Hamilton on Sunday.