El-Halaby wins national title as a freshman

Though the men's squash team played on Trinity's courts, the Tigers stole the show.

The individual championship came down to a battle between two Princeton teammates — freshman star Yasser El-Halaby versus senior captain Will Evans — with the younger Tiger coming out on top.

Three Princetonians entered the Men's A Pool Division of the men's squash championships. All three made it to the quarterfinals. Two made it to the semifinals. Both went to the finals, assuring that a Tiger would bring home the national title.

In other words, not a bad weekend for Princeton squash.

After leading his team to No. 2 in the nation in men's squash, El-Halaby claimed the one thing that had been missing from an incredible freshman season: the Intercollegiate Squash Association Individual Championship.

Princeton's top three seeds — El-Halaby (No. 1 for the Tigers), Evans (No. 2) and senior David Yik (No. 3) — followed up their team's loss to Trinity in the national championship match with great performances in the top division. Unfortunately, the Tigers' bottom part of the lineup was plagued by injury and illness, so only two more Princetonians competed this weekend. Seniors Dan Rutherford and Eric Pearson sat out for the tournament because of injury, and junior Aaron Zimmerman was too sick to compete.

Entering the tournament in the B Pool Division were sophomores Dent Wilkens, No. 7 for the Tigers, and Nathan Beck, No. 8 on the team. Both earned the quarterfinals of their division before falling to their opponents — Wilkens to Franklin and Marshall's George Edwards, Beck to Cornell's Ben Bernstein.

Yik, the 2001 individual champion, earned his way into the quarterfinals in the A Division first by defeating No. 27 Asher Hochberg and then No. 10 Ryan Donegan. As No. 7 in the nation, however, he was unable to overcome the strength of No. 2 Bernardo Samper to advance to the semifinals.

Egyptian domination

El-Halaby, ranked No. 1, had only lost one match this season, but it came at the hands of Trinity's Bernardo Samper. Going into the tournament, El-Halaby faced high expectations: he had to prove that he deserved his No. 1 ranking in the nation — while fighting the flu on top of his opponents.

El-Halaby started off the tournament by defeating No. 32 Sam Miller of Penn, No. 19 Dylan Patterson of Harvard and No. 9 Richard Repetto of Penn by scores of 3-0. He succeeded in keeping these three matches short to avoid the fatiguing effects of his illness.

His semifinal match against No. 5 Michael Ferreira, however, wasn't so easy. Ferreira took the first two games before El-Halaby regained his composure and fought hard for the last three games for a 3-2 victory, thus earning his way to the finals.

Meanwhile, Evans also worked his way through the brackets. He survived a scare his first match against No. 28 Breck Bailey of Brown to win, 3-2. He then defeated Trinity's No. 14 Yvain Badan, 3-1, and Trinity's No. 11 Nick Kyme, 3-0. Then, in a rematch of last year's individual championship match, Evans faced No. 2 Bernardo Samper of Trinity in the semifinals. Evans was looking to avenge last year's 3-1 loss. He took the first game before dropping the next two. Samper was up 7-2 in the fourth game, apparently about to clinch the win. But his leg began to cramp, which allowed Evans to come back and take the game. Samper eventually had to quit play, giving Evans the win by default.

In the end, therefore, it came down to a battle between two teammates. After a long struggle to get to the championship match, both Tigers were ecstatic just to be there.

In the ultimate matchup of rookie versus veteran — two opponents who play each other several times a week in practice — El-Halaby mercilessly ran his older teammate all over the court. He gave up only five points in 9-3, 9-0, 9-2 victories.

El Halaby affirmed that the road to the championship was not easy.

"I wasn't feeling my best," he said. "[The final match] was the first time I played well the whole tournament.

"It was kind of weird [to play Evans]. He's my captain and all."

Evans gave his younger teammate much credit for the win. "He's clearly a level above everyone else in the tournament," he said.

The 2002-2003 season has brought the team many successes, and with the No. 1 player only a freshman, the future is just as promising.

"[This weekend] was a great way for Dave [Yik] and Will to finish their college squash careers," head coach Bob Callahan said, "and it was a great way for Yasser to start."