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Princeton University Athletics
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Princeton Squash Prepares For 1 v. 2 Showdowns In Men's, Women's Squash Wednesday Night
January 29, 2008 | Men's Squash
Imagine a night featuring a Memphis-Kansas men's basketball game and a UConn-Tennessee women's game, both within hours of each other. It's the kind of night that would captivate a national audience, when the top spot in both national polls was up for grabs. Squash doesn't have the same audience, but for those who follow the sport, Wednesday night will be as exciting as any in recent years. The No. 1 Trinity men will host No. 2 Princeton at 5 p.m., while the No. 1 Princeton women will travel to No. 2 Penn for a 7 p.m. showdown.
The Princeton women have more than just the top ranking on the line. Last season, Princeton topped Penn 7-2 in a regular season showdown at Jadwin Gym, and that win pushed the Tigers to their first Ivy League title since 1998. The projected rematch in the Howe Cup final never materialized, as Penn was upset by third-seeded Harvard in the semifinal. One day later, top-ranked and unbeaten Princeton capped a perfect season with a 6-3 win over the Crimson in the championship match.
There are a handful of new faces on the Princeton roster, including freshman Jackie Moss and sophomore Emery Maine, but the Tigers are still a deep, talented squad. They are 3-0 on the season and have yet to lose an individual match, and sophomore Amanda Siebert is riding the momentum of her first Constable Invitational victory. The Tigers are 2-0 in league play following early-season wins over Cornell and Brown, but Wednesday's match will easily by their biggest test of the season. Penn is 7-0, 3-0 in the league, and own impressive wins over No. 4 Yale (7-2) and No. 5 Trinity (7-2). Reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Year Kristen Lange was a national finalist as a freshman and is currently the No. 2 player in the nation. The match will take place at the Ringe Squash Courts.
"The team is really geared up for this challenge at Penn," head coach Gail Ramsay said. "The women have worked hard and faced challenges this fall, and they have come out stronger and more determined to play their best against the best teams in the country."
By the time the women begin their match, the No. 1 Trinity men's team will have put its 175-match win streak on the line against a talented and unbeaten No. 2 Princeton squad. The Tigers have been led by "The Amigos" all season, as juniors Mauricio Sanchez, Kimlee Wong and Hesham El Halaby have led Princeton to consecutive Ivy League titles and national championship finals. Of course, those finals have both gone the way of the Bantams, including a 5-4 win in the 2006 final at Jadwin Gym. Sanchez, currently the top-ranked men's player in the country, will likely face Trinity sophomore Baset Chaudhry, the No. 2 player and the only person to defeat Sanchez in a team match last season.
Arguably the closest Trinity has come to defeat during its unprecedented win streak came two seasons ago, when Princeton and Trinity were even at four matches apiece with only the No. 1 match undecided. Princeton's Yasser El-Halaby, who would ultimately become the only men's collegiate player to ever win four individual national titles, tried to overcome an injured foot against talented Swede and currently fifth-ranked Gustav Detter. The match went five games, and Detter was able to grind out a 10-8 win in the fifth game.
Princeton has a reloaded squad that includes sophomores David Canner and Santiago Imberton and freshman David Letourneau, who gained valuable experience playing in the national five-man championships in December. The Tiger men are 5-0 on the season and 2-0 in Ivy play.