While the success of the Princeton men's (10-2 overall, 7-0 Ivy League) and women's (11-0, 9-0) squash teams — both of whom claimed Ivy League Championships this year — has been a collective effort, the Tigers had a chance to display their individual talents this weekend at the College Squash Association's Individual Championships in Philadelphia.
The arena may have been different, but the success remained. Highlighting the Tiger contingent were sophomore Mauricio Sanchez, who reached the national finals before falling in four games, and freshman Kaitlin Sennatt, who completed a perfect season by claiming the Holleran Cup title.
In the men's draw, Princeton sophomores No. 1 Sanchez, No. 2 Hesham El Halaby and No. 3 Kimlee Wong all reached the quarterfinals, earning first-team All American honors for their efforts. While Sanchez gained this distinction for the second consecutive year, it is the first such honor for El Halaby and Wong.
Sanchez and Wong cruised through their first two matches of the 32-man Potter Division, but El Halaby's route was a little more difficult. In the second round, he squared off against Trinity's Gustav Detter — the No. 7 seed.
After splitting the first two games, El Halaby's efforts were rewarded with victories of 9-3 and 9-4 in the match's deciding sets, earning him a signature match to end a terrific sophomore campaign.
El Halaby's run to the title was later curbed by his teammate Sanchez, who, after completing a perfect regular season at the No. 1 position and recording his only loss in the national team championship, entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed.
In the semifinals, Sanchez disposed of Harvard No. 2 Ilan Oren in four games, setting up a final showdown with familiar rival Siddharth Suchde.
The two first met in the last year's individual semifinals, where the Harvard No. 1 handed Sanchez the first postseason loss of his career. In contrast, this season the top Tiger had owned Suchde, registering two convincing victories by identical 3-0 scores.
Sunday, fresh off an impressive 3-0 victory over the tournament's top seed, Suchde was determined to claim an elusive first national title, which Yasser El Halaby '06 had denied him in the final last year.
The match, played in Penn's home courts, became a struggle for momentum, as the two stars battled back and forth through the first two games. With the score tied in the third, Suchde gutted out a handful of critical points to earn an overtime victory, 10-8. Utilizing this momentum, the senior pulled away from Sanchez in the forth to claim his first national title and the first for the Harvard program since 1996.
"The match with Sid was really tough," Sanchez said of the contest, which took an hour, 45 minutes to complete. "To be honest, that was my best match of the tournament, but Sid just played better today. It was a great match, and, even though I couldn't get the win, I'm happy that in general it was a successful season for me and my teammates."
Suchde's victory caps an impressive weekend in which he also collected the Skillman Award for the nation's top sportsman. Widely regarded as one of the game's consummate gentlemen, the senior beat out three other finalists, including Princeton senior Preston Comey, to earn the award.
On the women's side, Princeton freshmen Neha Kumar and Sennatt also recorded impressive weekends. Sennatt, who played No. 9 throughout the season for the Tigers, earned the No. 1 seed in the Holleran Cup division for players ranked 33 through 64 in the nation.
The freshman easily fulfilled expectations, cruising through the draw without surrendering a single game. In the final, she defeated Trinity No. 6 Fernanda Rocha, a testament to the depth of Princeton's lineup this season.
"That's why we were so good this season," head coach Gail Ramsay said. "To have somebody as good as Kaitlin playing No. 9 most of the season shows what kind of depth we had. She was great all year."
The victory put an exclamation point on a tremendous rookie campaign in which she compiled a 16-0 record and was never really threatened in a single game.
Sennatt's classmate Kumar, who played No. 2 for the Tigers, competed in the Ramsay division for the national championship. As the No. 6 seed, the freshman registered threeand four-game victories in her first two matches before meeting the No. 3 seed in the quarterfinal.
Kumar proceeded to upset Yale's Catherine McLeod, earning a critical overtime victory in the third game that set up a clinching fourth game win. Despite dropping the semifinal in three games to No. 7 Penn freshman Kristen Lange, Kumar earned first-team All American honors for her performance this season.
The success of the men's and women's teams this weekend capped a remarkable season that will be remembered long after these players graduate.
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