Princeton University Athletics
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Siebert, Kumar, Maine Add All-America Honors For 2009
May 14, 2009 | Women's Squash
The impressive 2009 campaign continued for the trio of Amanda Siebert, Neha Kumar and Emery Maine, each of whom picked up first-team All-America honors to go with their impressive list of individual and team accomplishments.
The three juniors, who had all earned first-team All-Ivy honors already, led Princeton to a perfect season, which was capped with 5-4 victories over Harvard to clinch both the Ivy League and Howe Cup team championships.
Siebert, who played No. 1 for Princeton for the second straight season, picked up the final victory of the team season for Princeton, and it earned the Tigers their third straight national team title. With four wins already on the board, Siebert faced Guruge in front of the Crimson freshman's home crowd. After winning the first, Siebert fell in the next two games and had teammates on the court facing tough opponents. Siebert went down 5-2 in the fourth, but summoned one final push and went on to win 16 of the next 17 points to clinch the match and the championship.
Kumar played No. 2 for Princeton, and she had to fight through a myriad of injuries to pick up three crucial late-season wins in a trio of 5-4 Princeton victories. In the regular season finale, with the Ivy League title on the line, Kumar faced Guruge (who moved from 2 to 1 before the Howe Cup) and also faced a 2-1 deficit. Kumar finished the match with 9-3 and 9-1 wins to help Princeton to the 5-4 victory. In a very difficult semifinal round against Trinity, Kumar topped Nyaly Hernandez 3-1 to help Princeton advance to the final against Harvard; Kumar would not be stopped in the national final, winning one of Princeton's only two 3-0 matches in the win over Harvard.
Maine, who moved from No. 4 last season to No. 3 this season, picked up the other 3-0 win in the national final. She defeated Emily Park 9-1, 9-3, 10-8 to give Princeton its first win of the national final. Maine went undefeated in Ivy League play, including a 3-1 win over Penn's Alisha Turner and a 3-0 win over Harvard's Alisha Mashruwala in the regular season finale. Maine has proven quite capable of handling pressure spots throughout her career; in 2008, she won the decisive match over Penn to clinch the national team title.