.png&width=24&type=webp)
Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
El Halaby, Sanchez Still Alive In Chase For National Title
May 03, 2006 | Men's Squash
March 3, 2006
AMHERST, Mass. - While Yasser El Halaby is three matches away from history, freshman teammate Mauricio Sanchez was just as impressive during the first day of the Potter Cup championships, which will crown the national individual champion.
Seven Tigers opened the day in the top draw of the national championships, and two reached the quarterfinals on opposite halves of the draw.
Top Half
Both Sanchez and No. 3 player Kimlee Wong won their first-round matches by 3-0 scores. Sanchez topped Jonathan Berry of Williams 9-3;9-2;9-2, while Wong topped Rushbah Vora of Franklin & Marshall 9-3;9-2;9-4. The third Tiger in the top half of the draw was senior Dent Wilkens, who drew the unfortunate assignment of a first-round match with top-seeded Siddharth Suchde of Harvard. Suchde cruised to a 9-2;9-3;9-0, but Wilkens bounced back with a 3-2 win in the first round of the consolation draw.
Sanchez advanced to the semifinal with a 9-4;9-4;9-5 win over Trinity's Sahil Vora. He will face another Trinity player in the quarterfinal; Sanchez will compete with Shaun Johnstone for a second time this season. Sanchez won a five-game thriller against Johnstone during the regular season.
Wong fell to ninth-seeded Jacques Swanepoel 9-5;9-6;7-9;9-5 to fall out of the main draw. Wong had topped Swanepoel twice during the season, but the Bantam found the third match charming, and will face Suchde in tomorrow's quarterfinal.
If Sanchez can duplicate his win over Johnstone, he will likely be the semifinal rival for Suchde, who has never made a national final. In both of his first two years, Suchde fell to El Halaby in the semifinal.
Bottom Half
Princeton went 2-2 in the first round, getting wins from both El Halabys. Freshman Hesham claimed a 10-8;9-0;9-2 victory over Yale's Moshe Sarfaty, while Yasser defeated Navy's Tucker George 9-1;9-5;9-5. Vincent Yu fell to Penn's Gilly Lane 9-1;9-3;9-0, while senior Nate Beck threw a scare into third-seeded Julian Illingworth of Yale before falling 9-4;8-10;9-1;9-4.
Hesham fell to Trinity freshman Gustav Detter 9-2;9-0;9-2, but Yasser advanced to the quarterfinal with a 9-4;9-4;9-1 over Yale's Nick Chirls. El Halaby will face Lane in the quarterfinal, and barring an upset, will have a very interesting semifinal against either Illingworth or Detter. El Halaby and Illingworth have faced off eight times in college, with the Princeton senior winning six, including the 2005 national final. El Halaby fell to Detter 3-2 at Trinity earlier in the year in a match that led to the three-time national champion's three-match injury departure.