Trinity too much for Tigers

Though the men lost the national title to No. 1 Trinity by an 8-1 margin — Princeton’s lone win came from senior Academic All-Ivy selection Tom McKay — the Tigers return all five of their All-Ivy selections for next year. Besides his place on the All-Ivy team, junior Mauricio Sanchez earned his second-consecutive Ivy League Player of the Year Award after winning the Rookie of the Year Award in 2006. Freshman David Letourneau, meanwhile, earned this year’s Rookie of the Year Award with his uncanny poise.

Letourneau demonstrated this maturity in the Tigers’ match against Harvard.

“[A]gainst Harvard was actually one of my best performances this year,” Letourneau said. “I was six to zero in the first game and was able to calm myself down to win three games to love, which was really great for the team.”

The only thing that could slow Letourneau down was a teammate, as the precocious player’s outstanding season concluded in the quarterfinals of the individual national championship tournament, where he was beaten by Sanchez.

In addition to Letourneau’s superb rookie campaign, juniors Hesham El Halaby and Kim Lee Wong became three-time All-Ivy selections after having stellar seasons of their own. Wong advanced to the individual national semifinal. El Halaby played in the top half of the ladder the entire year again, following the footsteps of his brother Yasser El Halaby ’06, a four-time national champion. Sophomore David Canner rounded out this year’s All-Ivy Tigers.

With three juniors, one sophomore and one freshman earning All-Ivy honors, the Tigers have a combination of youth and mental toughness that will likely carry them to another title hunt next season.

Not to be outdone, the women’s squash team only had one loss on the year — to the top-ranked Quakers early in the season. When the Tigers met Penn again in the Howe Cup final, they were more than ready for a rematch. Princeton won 6-3, reversing January’s 5-4 regular-season loss.

“I think that the previous loss to Penn actually made us stronger going into the finals,” sophomore Emery Maine said after the finals. “We wanted it more, and we had learned from our mistakes and were determined to get revenge. I don’t think there was any doubt in anyone’s mind that we could do it.”

It was Maine — an athlete originally recruited for the women’s lacrosse team — who closed the match out against Penn’s Tara Chawla. Having lost to Chawla in five tough games in the Tigers’ first matchup against the Quakers, Maine roared back to win in four games, 9-5, 5-9, 9-1, 9-0. With the rout in the final game, Maine exhibited the focus and execution that gave her the court vision to adapt and win.

Two women also earned All-Ivy honors. Sophomore Amanda Siebert, the Constable Cup Champion, played at the top of the ladder for almost the entire year, facing the league’s best and grinding out wins. Fellow sophomore Neha Kumar overcame several nagging injuries to get the All-Ivy nod for her clutch play in the championship match. Senior Carly Grabowski — who was a captain along with fellow seniors Casey Riley and Margaret Kent — was named to the Academic All-Ivy Team. Despite losing three seniors, the women will look to three-peat next year.