M., w., squash start off seasons this weekend

Head Coach Gail Ramsay has every reason to be happy with her team this season, as women's squash adds five new freshmen to its top nine players.

Freshmen Claire Rein-Weston, Ali Pearson, Marilla Hiltz, Genevieve Lessard and Anina Nolan all join one of the most successful squash teams in the country.

Last year, six sophomores and one freshman made up seven of the team's top nine. The Tigers lost two of their top nine to graduation — co-captains Jennifer Shingleton and Helen Smith.

Last year, the Tigers went 3-7 for the season. In a preseason poll, Princeton was ranked sixth behind, from first to fifth, Trinity, Harvard, Yale, Penn and Dartmouth.

However, in the preseason Ivy League tournament, Princeton fared well, coming in second to a strong Yale team. Yale was edged out last year in the Ivy League title, 5-4, by the unstoppable Harvard squad but is expected to give the Crimson a run for their money this season.

Harvard, who went on to win the Ivy League crown, is looking as strong as ever. In the preseason poll, in fact, the Crimson is ranked second behind Trinity, the National Collegiate Champions last year.

Dartmouth will be a tough competitor again this season. Princeton defeated the Big Green in the regular season in a spectacular 5-4 decision. Dartmouth avenged this loss, however, taking out the Tigers in the Howe Cup tournament.

Princeton will look to sophomore Ruchika Kumar to lead them again this year. Kumar is ranked fifth in the nation, the only Tiger athlete to be seen in the top 15, although Princeton as a whole has six of its athletes ranked in the top 30.

Women's squash will begin its season this weekend with a doubleheader in Ithaca, New York where Princeton will take on the University of Toronto at 10 a.m. and Cornell at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

National Champ returns

The men's squash team of 2003-04 has a huge legacy to live up to. Last year's team won the Ivy League championship and challenged perennial superpower Trinity for the national title, eventually losing and settling for second place. Princeton also saw its top two seeds advance to play each other in the individual national championship game, with the then-freshman phenom Yasser El-Halaby defeating teammate Will Evans '03 to take the crown.

Evans and fellow teammates David Yik '03, Eric Pearson '03, and Dan Rutherford '03 have moved on due to graduation. The seniors represented four of the team's top five players last year, and will be hard to replace this season.

But fortunately for the Tigers, it was the freshman El-Halaby who beat Evans last year to take the honors as the top player in the nation, and he will now return for his second season as the leader of the Princeton team as the reigning national champion. The Tigers of '03-04 will be much younger and possibly less seasoned than the '02-03 version, but this lack of experience could eventually turn into a strength as fearless young players make the most of their opportunities at the top of the lineup.

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Expected to make a huge impact for the Tigers is junior Dent Wilkens, a frequent winner as a middle seed last year who will now be expected to defeat one of the opponent's best players. Also likely to play in the top three is senior Aaron Zimmerman, who played in front of Wilkens at No.6 for most of last year's campaign.

Rounding out the Tiger crew of players with experience in the lineup are juniors Nate Beck and Rob Siverd. Those two were a winning combination at the bottom of the lineup last season and must step up this year to continue their success in the middle of the lineup.

The rest of the Tiger top nine will be filled by unproven young talent. The new players must learn quickly, as squash at the nation's highest collegiate level can be unforgiving.

The team's first test will be this weekend, when the Tigers travel to Ithaca, N.Y. to face Western Ontario at 10 a.m. and Cornell at 2 p.m. on Sunday.