ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. - The Bard College men's squash team played a thriller Saturday afternoon, beating Colgate University, 6-3, to keep its perfect record intact.

The Raptors (4-0) were gifted two games as Colgate only had seven players available to play on the day. However, the visitors still made it a close contest, right down to the very last matchup. 

After Bard jumped out to three early victories during the #5, #6, #7 matchups, the Raiders of Colgate won the #2, #3, #4 games, to set up an important matchup between each team's #1.

The face-off between Rhys Nordstrom and Matt Swain was fantastic to witness, ending with Nordstrom emerging victorious in five sets. After he took the first set, 11-7, Swain rallied to win the next two, 11-8 and 11-3. The Bard sophomore rebounded in the fourth set with an 11-5 win, before finishing off the comeback with a 14-12 victory in the deciding fifth set. 

The final set played out like an epic, with Nordstrom taking a 10-5 lead over Swain. Swain was resilient though, rallying back to score the next six points to take an 11-10 lead. Nordstrom responded with a point to tie it at 11 all, before the players split the next two points to make it a tie game at 12-12.

In the end, Nordstrom, the Raptors #1, finished off the win by scoring the final two points to give him and his team the victory. The fans and teammates watching the match, cheered the entire fifth set for the two athletes as they battled on and applauded them at the end for their efforts.

The win moved Bard to 4-0 for the season, which is the best start in the program's history. The Raptors will look to continue their winning ways, Sunday, 11/13 as the team takes on Swarthmore College at 9 a.m. and Siena College at 1 p.m. on the final day of the Bard Round Robin series. Those matches will take place in the Stevenson Athletic Center on the campus of Bard College. 

Bard 6, Colgate 3

1. Rhys Nordstrom (B) def. Matt Swain 11-7, 8-11, 3-11, 11-5, 14-12
2. Jeremy Reikes (C) def. Ayateru Maeda 11-8, 11-4, 9-11, 11-7
3. Ryan Wetsman (C) def. Julian Dime 11-4, 11-5, 11-8
4. Philip Brauer (C) def. Pranjal Ghate 11-2, 11-7, 8-11, 12-10
5. Abe Etkin (B) def, Tom Sheeringer 11-5, 11-3, 11-3
6. Vikramaditya Joshi (B) def. Dan Lucas 11-1, 11-3, 11-2
7. Matt Lampeter (B) Joe Aiello 11-1, 11-4, 11-7
8. Satwik Srikrishnan (B) won by default
9. Aman Kurien (B) won by default
10. Theo Webb (B) won by default

Notable results from the Bard Round Robin series on Saturday, November 12th include:

Vassar 7, Lafayette 2

Vassar 6, Swarthmore 3