HARTFORD, Conn. -- After a heartbreaking loss in the quarterfinals of the NESCAC Tournament Saturday morning, the #20th-ranked Amherst College men's squash team bounced back in a big way, defeating Hamilton 8-1 in the consolation bracket of the tournament. The Mammoths (9-8) will face Tufts in a match for fifth place Sunday morning at 10 a.m. back in Hartford at Trinity College. 

Of the eight Mammoth victories over Hamilton, seven came via a 3-0 score. At two, Adam Lichtmacher posted an 11-5, 11-6, 11-4 victory over Waleed Nisar. At three, Neal Malani swept his way to an 11-4, 11-4, 11-4 victory over Ashby Howard. At seven, Matt Granovsky played his way to an 11-7, 11-4, 11-7 sweep of Tate Burgin. At eight, Pavan Nagaraj notched a 11-9, 11-5, 11-7 victory over Tripp Peters. 

Andrew Leung, Robinson Armour and Nate Mosse also posted 3-0 victories. At  four, Yeshwin Sankuratri prevailed in four games, taking the final two 11-6,12-10. 

Earlier in the day, the Mammoths versus Bates quarterfinal was as tightly contested as a match can get. Sox of the nine individual matches finished at 3-2, with Amherst winning four of the five-game matches. Lichtmacher and Malani again posted victories, with the former rallying to defeat Alec Spiro in five games after trailing two games to one. Lichtmacher won the fourth game 12-10 and the winner-takes-the-match game, 11-6. Malani also trailed 2-1 before winning his fourth game 12-10 and taking the fifth and deciding match, 11-4.

Amherst senior Charlie Sutherby had a slightly different experience. Up 2-1 against Jonathan Walker, he saw Walker win the fourth game 11-9, but remained undeterred and bounced back to win the fifth game and the match, 11-7. At #8, Mosse trailed 2-1, but again the Mammoths showed their heart, as Mosse rallied to take the fourth and fifth games by 11-4 scores. 

Ultimately, the entire quarterfinal came down to the match at #7 between Yeshwin Sankuratri and Bobcat Jairaj Singh. It went 5 games and lasted over an hour. Trailing 2-1, Sankuratri forced a fifth-and-deciding game with a 11-5 game four victory. Hen then fought off four match points in the fifth game while having three of his own. In the end, Singh pulled out a 19-17 game five win, sending Bates to the 5-4 victory.