At the College Squash Association Individuals Championships Tournament, held at Williams College, Mass., this weekend, members of both the men’s and women’s teams made impressive showings.
Among those who advanced farthest were some of the younger members, several of whom were playing in their first national tournaments on the intercollegiate level.
“I’m a freshman, and I’ve never played in individuals before,” Lexi Van Arkel ’12 said. “I wanted to make it to the quarterfinals, as I was seeded eighth.”
Logan Greer ’11 played some of her best squash of the season and made it to the semifinals of the Ramsay “A” division. She placed fourth overall. In the first round, Greer took down her opponent, Christina Matthias of University of Pennsylvania, in four matches: 9-7, 9-3, 7-9 and 10-8. She went on to soundly defeat Harvard University’s Katherine O’Donnell and Stanford University’s Lily Lorentzen. In the semifinal match, Greer fell to Trinity College’s Nour Bahgat, who went on to win the tournament.
Also representing Yale in the Ramsay division were Sarah Toomey ’11 and Alia Aziz ’10, who both made it to the quarterfinals. In the consolation round, Rhetta Nadas ’12 made it to the semifinals and placed third.
For the two Elis playing in the men’s Potter “A” division, their first round matches, where were against two of Trinity’s talented Bantams, were tough. Todd Ruth ’10 went down in straight sets to Trinity’s Gustav Detter, and John Fulham ’11 fell to Randy Lim, 0-3. In the consolation round, Fulham made it to the semifinal match, but he was defeated by Rochester’s Ben Fischer in straight sets.
“The draw was especially strong this year,” Fulham said. “Todd and I both just ended up playing two of the better players and weren’t quite a match for them. That’s how draws and individuals work sometimes.”
Playing in the women’s Holleran “B” division, Van Arkel advanced to the finals match against Williams College’s Jennifer Coxe. After falling behind in the first two games, Van Arkel managed to pull out a 0-9 win in the third match, but went down in the fourth, 9-2.
“I won four matches to advance to the finals of my division,” Van Arkel explained. “I’m excited to have made it that far in such a large draw.”
Aly Kerr ’12 crushed her opponent, Victoria Barba of Tufts University, 9-6, 9-0 and 9-0 in the first round, but fell to Mt. Holyoke College’s Vidushi Gurunada in the next round due to a sudden injury.
“I lost my third match, 2-1o, in a default due to an ankle sprain in the fourth game,” Kerr said.
Also playing in the B draw, Katharine Ettinger ’10 fell to Bowdoin’s Lauren Gesswein in a four-game upset in the first round.
Robby Berner ’12 advanced to the semifinals in the Molloy “B” division. He took down Cornell’s David Hilton, Harvard’s Reed Endresen, and Williams’ Ethan Buchsbaum before falling to the Bantam’s Chris Binnie 9-5, 9-2, and 9-5.
Naishadh Lalwani ’11 came out victorious in the second round consolation match. Lalwani cruised past Hamilton’s John DeWitt 9-2, 9-0 and 9-1 before taking down Colby College’s Harry Smith in a tough five-game match. In the semifinals, he took out Bates College’s Will Katz in a 3-1 battle. For the top spot, Lalwani defeated Williams’ George Miller, 4-9, 9-2, 9-1 and 9-0.
“I was hoping to do well and, if possible, win the Molloy draw,” Lalwani explained. “But I had a disappointing loss in the second round. I ended up winning the consolation bracket of the tournament, which was nice.”