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Acton, MA, Feb 25th 2009 -- The College Squash Association (CSA)
season moves towards its conclusion this upcoming weekend in the United
States with Trinity College (Hartford, CT) squarely in the
limelight. Trinity’s Baset Chaudhry (PAK) will be the first seed in the
men’s individual championships, ahead of second seed Mauricio Sanchez (MEX)
of Princeton. On the women’s side, the first seed will be Trinity’s Nour
Baghat (EGY) with Pennsylvania’s Kristen Lange (USA) the second seed
and Yale’s Logan Greer (USA) the third seed. The individual events are
being held concurrently at Williams College in Northwestern,
Massachusetts, with play beginning at 8AM Friday morning (Feb 27th)
and concluding on Sunday in early afternoon.
In the just concluded men’s team championships last weekend at Princeton,
NJ, the Trinity College “Bantams” men’s team just barely collected the
crown by a razor-thin five match to four margin over the second-seeded
Princeton “Tigers”. This win marks yet another milestone for the celebrated
Trinity men’s program, which has now won a record-setting eleventh national team
title in a row and 202 collegiate matches in a row.
Trinity’s 202 match streak is the longest ever in US Collegiate history IN ANY
SPORT, and has attracted a wide range of media attention this season, including
coverage on ESPN and CNN on Sunday (the date of the national finals), as well as
coverage over the past few months in the Hartford Courant, New York Times,
Sports Illustrated online, and National Public Radio.
But this time around Trinity, under coach Paul Assaiante, was facing
defeat squarely in the face, as the players had to come from behind in several
of the key winning matches. With the nine matches being played in groups of
three, in reverse order, the match came down finally to contests at the number
four and number one positions, with the score four matches to three in
Princeton’s favor. When Trinity’s Parth Sharma came from a 0-2 game
deficit to defeat Princeton’s David Letourneau by scores of 6-9 2-9 9-7
9-0 9-7, the finals stood knotted at four matches apiece.
Then Princeton senior Mauricio Sanchez, at the number one position, in
the last match on court, built a 5 points to 0 lead in the fifth and concluding
game against Trinity’s Baset Chaudhry, but the Princeton Tiger couldn’t
hold the lead and fell 9-5 in that final game, giving Trinity its eleventh CSA
US national championship.
In the third place playoff, the University of Rochester, under coach
Martin Heath, solidified by far its best CSA season ever, with a convincing
7-2 win over Harvard to rise from #10 last season to a school record #3 this
season.
The previous weekend, the Princeton University Tiger women collected
their third successive national title, besting the Harvard Crimson by a
close 5-4 margin. Princeton defeated a rapidly improving Trinity team in the
semi finals, also by a 5-4 margin. In the finals, the clinching match was
scored by Princeton’s Amanda Siebert (USA) at the number one position in
a come from behind victory over Harvard’s Nirasha Guruge (IND). For the
Princeton women’s program, it was their 17th overall title, in a run
that was accomplished over three decades.
The CSA team championships this year have been a showcase of the continued
growth curve of collegiate squash over the past five seasons, with eight new
teams this year alone having been organized at different colleges and
universities across the USA, including at such prominent institutions as Purdue,
Illinois, Notre Dame and Boston University. 56 teams and 520 athletes
participated in the men’s team event and 37 teams and 345 athletes in the
women’s event.
Championships were decided in a eight men’s divisions and five women’s
divisions, with full results available at
www.collegesquash.org
The upcoming individual championships have two divisions of play each on the
men’s and women’s sides, with draws of 32 players in the championship divisions
and of 64 in the second division. Draws will be announced on Thursday
afternoon.
RESULTS, CSA National Team Championships:
HOWE CUP National Women’s Championships,
at Harvard University, Cambridge MA USA
FINALS: Princeton 5 – Harvard 4
1. Amanda Siebert (P) def Nirasha Guruge (H) 9-5 0-9 2-9 9-5 9-1
2. Neha Kumar (P) def June Tiong (H) 9-6 9-1 9-4
3. Emery Maine (P) def Emily Park (H) 9-1 9-3 10-8
4. Alisha Mashruwala (H) def Kaitlin Sennatt (P) 7-9 9-3 9-1 9-0
5. Katherine O’Donnell (H) def Jackie Moss (P) 9-5 0-9 6-9 9-5 9-0
6. Bethan Williams (H) def Mary O’Toole (P) 7-9 9-6 9-3 9-5
7. Johanna Snyder (H) def Aly Brady (P) 9-5 9-3 9-3
8. Nikki Sequeira (P) def Cece Cortes (H) 3-9 2-9 9-7 9-0 9-3
9. Katherine Giovinazzo (P) def Ali Zindman (H) 9-6 9-6 7-9 10-8
POTTER CUP National Men’s Championships,
at Princeton University and Lawrenceville School, NJ USA
FINALS: Trinity 5 - Princeton 4
1. Baset Chaudhry (T) def Mauricio Sanchez (P) 8-10 9-3 9-5 2-9 9-5
2. Gustav Detter (T) def Kimlee Wong (P) 5-9 5-9 9-6 9-1 9-3
3. Manek Mathur (T) def Chris Callis (P) 9-10 10-8 0-9 9-1 9-2
4. Parth Sharma (T) def David Letourneau (P) 6-9 2-9 9-7 9-0 9-7
5. David Canner (P) def Randy Lim (T) 2-9 10-8 9-5 9-1
6. Hesham El Halaby (P) def Supreet Singh (T) 9-5 9-10 9-4 4-9 9-4
7. Kelly Shannon (P) def Andres Vargas (T) 8-10 7-9 9-4 9-3 9-2
8. Vikram Malhotra (T) def Santiago Imberton (P) 9-3 10-8 9-4
9. Peter Sopher (P) def Rushabh Vora (T) 8-10 9-2 10-8 9-4
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