The Liberty League has announced the major award winners for the 2023-24 men's squash season. St. Lawrence University Junior Lewis Anderson was selected as Player of the Year for the second time in his career. Hobart College College first-year Dhirren Rajarathinam was chosen as Rookie of the Year. The University of Rochester, led by head coach Matt Dukarm, was recognized as the Liberty League Coaching Staff of the Year.
Player of the Year
Lewis Anderson, St. Lawrence University, Junior, Birmingham, U.K.
St. Lawrence University junior Lewis Anderson was selected as the Liberty League Player of the Year for the second time in three seasons. Anderson finished his junior season with a 16-3 record overall, improving his career mark to 62-8. Anderson went a perfect 3-0 at the Liberty League championship, earning the tournament's Most Outstanding Player award. After picking up 3-0 victories against Vassar in the quarterfinals and Hobart in the semifinals, Anderson rallied for a 3-2 (7-11, 4-11, 11-8, 11-9, 12-10) come-from-behind win over Yash Fadte of Rochester. At the College Squash Association (CSA) Team Championships, he went 2-0 with wins against Bates and Navy. At the CSA Individual Championships, Anderson advanced to the final of the Molloy North draw with wins over opponents from Haverford, Tufts and Princeton. In the final, he nearly rallied from a 2-0 deficit before dropping a competitive five-game match (11-9, 11-9, 8-11, 5-11, 11-7) against Syan Singh of Cornell.
Rookie of the Year
Dhirren Rajarathinam, Hobart College, First Year, Penang, Malaysia.
Hobart College first-year Dhirren Rajarathinam was selected as the Liberty League Rookie of the Year after a dominant first season with the Statesmen. Rajarathinam led Hobart with a 19-3 overall record as his 19 wins this season are the most by a Statesman since Mohamed Abdelhafez won 16 in 2018-19. Rajarathinam started the season playing in the No. 3 spot, posting a 6-1 overall record. He then moved up to No. 2 and won his final 12 matches of the regular season. He then went 1-2 at the CSA Individual Championships. Rajarathinam won 14 straight matches from Jan. 8 through Feb. 18, including all three matches at the Liberty League Championships. He was named the Liberty League Rookie of the Week eight times and earned a spot on the weekly honor roll once.
Coaching Staff of the Year
University of Rochester – Matt Dukarm, Head Coach
University of Rochester first-year head coach Matt Dukarm and volunteer assistant coaches Imran Khan, Christian Riedelsheimer and Lawrence Kuhn have been selected as the Liberty League Coaching Staff of the Year. Dukarm, the youngest head coach in the College Squash Association, took over after serving as a member of the team the year before. He led the Yellowjackets to a 10-3 overall record, a Liberty League title, and the CSA's Hoehn Cup championship with dominant wins over Middlebury (6-3) in the quarterfinals, MIT (7-2) in the semifinals, and Williams (6-3) in the championship match. Dukarm also had eight players compete in the individual postseason play - four in the CSA Individual Championships and two teams in the U.S. Squash Intercollegiate Doubles Championship. The doubles team of Varun Kumar and Jake Koeppel advanced to the final.
ALL-LIBERTY LEAGUE FIRST TEAM
Lewis Anderson, Jr., St. Lawrence
Yash Fadte, Jr., Rochester
Juan Felipe Hernandez, So., Denison
Omar Kiwan, Sr., Hobart
Abdelrahman Lasheen, Sr., Rochester
Luis Moncada, Sr., Rochester
Dhirren Rajarathinam, FY, Hobart
Omar Zakaria, Jr., Rochester
Patrick Walford, So., St. Lawrence
ALL-LIBERTY LEAGUE SECOND TEAM
Jackson Bragman, FY, Denison
Emilio Carrillo, Sr., Rochester
Hussein Labib, Sr., Hobart
Hassan Madkour, Jr., St. Lawrence
Tarun Mammen, Jr., Denison
Arnav Mandhana, Jr., Rochester
Artemy Mukhin, So., Bard
Joey Raskin Lantos, Jr., Hobart
Athrva Yadav, So., St. Lawrence
ALL-LIBERTY LEAGUE HONORABLE MENTION
Francis Betkowski, FY, Haverford
Daniel Braun, FY, Haverford
Rayan Dar, Jr., Denison
Javier De La Vega, So., Hobart
Aaryaman Jaising, So., Haverford
Rithik Jalali, Sr., Vassar
Arvin Krishnan, FY, Haverford