Squash: Sanchez stopped in finals

Senior Mauricio Sanchez came closest, falling in the final to his nemesis, Baset Chaudhry of Trinity. In the third meeting in three weeks between the two, Sanchez and Chaudhry again played into the fifth game. Two weeks ago, Sanchez came out on top, defeating Chaudhry 9-2 in the fifth game and handing Chaudhry his second collegiate loss. With the national team title on the line last weekend, Chaudhry bested Sanchez 9-5 in the fifth game.

While 32 competitors were part of the Potter Cup competition, Chaudhry and Sanchez were fated for one final showdown.

Despite not playing in several matches early this season due to injury, Sanchez charged through the final weeks of his senior campaign. His final match with Chaudhry oscillated from tactical control to feverish risk-taking. Unfortunately for Sanchez, Chaudhry got the odd games.

Chaudhry took the first game 9-6, but Sanchez responded with a grueling 10-9 win in the second game. Chaudhry countered in the third game, taking the frame 9-4 before Sanchez blitzed Chaudhry 9-5 in the fourth.

In the fifth, Chaudhry jumped out to an early 6-0 lead. Sanchez then scrambled back to 6-3, but Chaudry waltzed through the final three points, taking both the fifth game 9-3 and the match 3-2.

After an impressive collegiate squash career — with three Ivy League Player of the Year awards, four All-American honors, an Ivy League Rookie of the Year Award and four Ivy League team titles — only two things remain missing from Sanchez’ resume: a national individual title and a national team title.

Freshman Kelly Shannon proved to be one of the biggest surprises in the men’s draw. Hurt for most of the season, Shannon upset Trinity’s Partha Sharma 9-6, 9-2, 5-9, 10-9 in the opening round. Shannon put together a three-set win over Penn’s Thomas Mattson, who was hospitalized after the match for dehydration, before falling in the quarterfinals to Chaudhry.

Sophomore Dave Letourneau was sent home for the second consecutive year by Sanchez. Letourneau, who earned All-American honors last year, looks to be in line to receive them again after reaching the quarterfinals in this tournament.

Senior tri-captains Kimlee Wong and Hesham El Halaby also finished their Princeton squash careers at last weekend’s national singles championship. After making a semifinal appearance last year, a visibly exhausted Wong lost to Trinity’s Vikram Malhotra in the quarterfinals this year.

While the men competed for the Potter Cup, the women fought for the Ramsay Cup, named after women’s head coach Gail Ramsay, who won four straight individual national titles from 1977 to 1980.

The Tigers had remarkably difficult singles draws just two weeks after they won their third consecutive national team championship. Juniors Emery Maine and Neha Kumar both advanced to the quarterfinals, while junior Amanda Siebert exited in the second round and sophomore Jackie Moss exited in the first.

Outside of the 2008 Constable Cup competition, Siebert has struggled in singles events the past two years, and this year proved no different. She earned the fifth seed going into this weekend, but she drew Stanford’s Lily Lorentzen, the 2006 singles champion, in the second round. Siebert fell to Lorentzen 10-8, 9-5, 9-5.

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Maine ran into a formidable opponent in Trinity freshman Nour Baghat.

“Nour is definitely the toughest opponent I have played this year … mostly because her style of play is just totally different,” Maine said. “Her style is pretty crafty, and she is able to misdirect well. She covers the court well and can change her pace at the opportune times.”

Baghat did not drop a game on her way to the national title. She took down the hard-hitting Maine 9-0, 9-7, 9-3.

Kumar, who has struggled with injuries for the past two years, beat Dartmouth’s Hannah Conant and Yale’s Sarah Toomey over nine demanding games and fell to Williams’ Toby Eyre in four games. Kumar will likely be a first-team All-American despite her few appearances this season.

It was a successful year for the Tigers — the women’s squash team won the national title and the men’s squash team was the national runner-up — and both teams look poised to continue their success next season.