Three-peat: El-Halaby claims national crown

Junior Yasser El-Halaby made history this past weekend. With his record-setting third individual national championship, El-Halaby became the first male to ever accomplish that feat before his senior year.

"This year there was added pressure," El-Halaby said. "More people expected me to win. This gave me extra incentive to work hard."

Despite the immense pressure El-Halaby faced as the two-time defending champion, he dominated his competition in the "A" Division throughout the tournament. He lost only one game to Harvard's Siddharth Suchde in the semifinals and was flawless in all four of the other matches he played.

In the finals, El-Halaby met Julian Illingworth of Yale for the third time this season. The first time they met, Illingworth came back from a 2-0 deficit to win, 3-2. The second time they met was two weekends ago at the team nationals where El-Halaby's first chance at revenge was sweet as he swept Illingworth, 3-0, to propel Princeton to a shocking 6-3 upset over Yale and a third-place finish. In this their final meeting this season, El-Halaby pulled off another sweep to win his third national title, 9-6, 9- 2, 9-1.

El-Halaby's three-peat success was not a forgone conclusion. He had significantly less time to prepare for the national tournament this time around because of other factors in his life that were not conducive to his squash success.

Still, El-Halaby was quick to switch focus off of his personal success and onto the respect he has for his teammates.

"This was the most satisfying season," El-Halaby said. "I'm really proud of the team. Even though freshman year we were No. 2, this year was a tough year with all the injuries."

El-Halaby's story was not the only bright spot for the Tigers in the men's division. Sophomore Vincent Yu, who has been plagued by injury the entire season, lost only one game en route to taking home the top spot in the "B" bracket. Yu played the No. 2 position last season for the Tigers and rejoined the team midway through the season. He posted an impressive and dominant victory over Bates' Gary Kan on Sunday for his title-clinching win, 10-8, 9-7, 9-1.

In the women's squash division, five players were entered into the "A" Division championships. Though freshmen Margaret Kent and Lena Neufeld and sophomores Marilla Hiltz and Genevieve Lessard all lost their first round matchups, they all rebounded to win games in the first round consolation bracket.

Sophomore Claire Rein-Weston won her first round match, and although she lost in the second round, she advanced to the finals in the second round consolation bracket.

In the "B" Division, freshman Carly Grabowski made it to the semifinals before losing to Kate Rapisarda of Yale. Anina Nolan also had some success, winning two matches in the "B" Division. The matches provided good competition and experience for the young women's squash team.

Despite the balanced individual performances, the true story was how El-Halaby defended his title. Should he win next year, he would be only the second person, and first male, in college squash history to sweep the nationals all four years of his collegiate career. The only other player to do this was Gail Ramsay, who is the current Princeton women's squash coach.