Women's Squash compete in CSA Individual Championships

The women’s squash team concluded its 2016-17 season at the College Squash Association Individual Championships this past weekend, March 3-5, at Dartmouth College. Princeton sent nine athletes to participate in one of the five draws of the tournament: Holleran North, Holleran South, Holleran East, Holleran West, and the Ramsay Cup. The last, Ramsay Cup, is the top draw of the individual championships. Junior Olivia Fiechter was the only Tiger to qualify for this draw, and is therefore guaranteed All-American honors. Senior Alexandra Toth made the longest run of the tournament, however, reaching the finals of the Holleran North draw on Sunday.

Freshman Madison Soukup, sophomore Kate Feeley, and Toth were selected to compete in the Holleran North draw, while senior Gabriella Garr was the sole teammate to be drawn into Holleran South.

Sophomore Samantha Chai and junior Kira Keating headed to Holleran East, and freshman Morgan Steelman and sophomore Isabel Hirshberg were the two Princeton athletes in Holleran West.

The team started the weekend off strong in all five draws with a clean sweep of 7-0 on Friday, Mar. 3, in Hanover with Round 16 wins from Soukup, Feeley, Garr, Chai, Keating, Hirshberg, and Fiechter. Toth and Steelman were the only Tigers to receiver byes to the quarterfinal rounds in their respective draws.

The team looked to continue their momentum in the quarterfinal and semifinal matches on Saturday Mar. 4, but Toth was the only member of the team to progress to Sunday’s final matches.

In Holleran North, Soukup and Feeley each lost in their quarterfinals matches, Feeley to teammate Toth.

Garr advanced to the semifinals on Saturday, Mar. 4 in the Holleran South group, but was soon defeated by Harvard’s Alyssa Mehta.

Keating also lost in the quarterfinals in Holleran East, while Chai succumbed to Columbia’s Madison O’Connor in the semifinals.

Steelman earned a quarter bye and victory to progress to the semifinals in Holleran West, but Drexel’s Ryan Morgan ultimately took a spot in the finals, while Hirshberg also fell in the quarterfinal round.

Fiechter drew into the tournament’s top group, the Ramsay Cup, and is thus guaranteed All-American honors but not the championship title, as Harvard’s Kayley Leonard advanced to the semifinal round after their quarterfinal match.

Toth was the only Princeton competitor standing by Sunday, Mar. 5, facing Cornell’s Margaux Losty that morning in an attempt to clinch the championship and second-team All-American honors in the last match of her collegiate career. Toth took second place in the draw group to conclude the women’s squash season.

Though the Princeton program saw no individual victories in the CSA championships, women’s squash still had an eventful season, kicking off with a seven-game win streak and finishing at 12-5 overall and 5-2 for the Ivy League.