Squash: Perfection abounds in season openers

Maine defeated Stanford’s Katie Correlli in her first match 9-2, 9-3, 9-0. Playing third in Princeton’s ladder, she began her season with no surprises. The opening weekend went as planned for the Princeton squash teams despite some bumps in the road.

“It wasn’t the cleanest match, but it was good to get used to playing matches again. I get so excited and hyped up that I need to work some of the kinks out,” Maine said.

Like Maine, the women’s squash team held the line and felled the Cardinal without dropping a match. The Tigers lost only three games en route to a 9-0 win.

Princeton returned to Jadwin Gymnasium for a doubleheader against Cornell on Sunday. Freshman Katie Giovinazzo was rewarded with her second of three wins on the weekend, dispatching Cornell’s Isabella Spyrou 9-3, 9-0, 10-8. Overall, the Tigers won 7-2, dropping two close matches but maintaining a solid balance of wins throughout the lineup.

Junior Neha Kumar, a three-time All-American selection, made her debut at the number-one spot on the ladder, overcoming Cornell’s Rebecca Hazell in four games, 9-0, 6-9, 9-5, 10-8. Unlike Princeton’s 9-0 victory over Cornell last year, the matches were not a cakewalk for the Tigers, showcasing a more competitive Ivy League.

The Tigers reshuffled the ladder for the final match, inserting junior Amanda Siebert into the No. 1 spot. Siebert worked efficiently through her Middlebury match as did the rest of the Tigers. Every Tiger won in the minimum three games, ending the weekend with a dominating victory that portends good things to come.

“All in all, they performed very well for this point in the season,” head coach Gail Ramsay said. “There is always pressure and, for the most part, self-inflicted, as it was our opening event. We dropped three games in the Stanford match, and I think [junior] Kaitlin [Sennatt] was the only person to have a ‘tough’ match. I thought she played very well against a competitive player.”

The men’s side opened its season against Cornell and Middlebury. Though the team played fewer matches than the women’s side, the second-ranked Tigers faced a sixth-ranked Cornell squad seeking to upset the Tigers. Bolstered by a strong recruiting class, Cornell has already beaten Penn and Harvard in early-season play, and the Big Red’s No. 1 player gave a strong effort against senior tri-captain Kimlee Wong. Wong still dismissed Cornell’s Chris Sachvie 9-2, 9-4, 9-4.

Fellow senior tri-captain Mauricio Sanchez, last year’s Ivy League Player of the Year, toughed it out at the No. 2 spot on the ladder. A nagging Achilles tendon flare-up has kept him sidelined for much of the preseason, but he fought through the match with his hampered agility. Sanchez won 9-2, 9-2, 9-4.

“I have been doing lots of stationary practice, so my swing felt very solid. Trying to move efficiently forced me to think about my technique these last two weeks,” Sanchez said.

Senior Hesham El Halaby, the third of Princeton’s captains, sat out Sunday’s play. Injuries and illnesses have plagued the Tigers these last few weeks, keeping head coach Bob Callahan ’77’s lineup hazy until game day.

“The men have been really beaten up, and Cornell is an up-and-coming team with several fine players,” Callahan said, “so I came into the match a little nervous that I wasn’t going to have a team. But the training staff did an excellent job keeping the team in playing condition. They really came on strong, performing incredibly well.”

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Princeton’s men’s squash team now has some time to recover, as its next matches are not until Dec. 3 against Franklin & Marshall. The women next face Brown on Dec. 6 in Providence, R.I.