Princeton Squash Opens 2018-19 Season Sunday At Virginia

Sunday, November 11

Charlottesville, Va.

12:30 PM

Princeton University

Virginia

Photo by: Beverly Schaefer

Princeton Squash Opens 2018-19 Season Sunday At Virginia

November 08, 2018 | Men's Squash, Women's Squash

The 2018-19 Princeton squash seasons will open this weekend at the University of Virginia, one of the rising programs in the sport, with Sunday matches at 12:30 pm at the McArthur Squash Center. The Princeton women, who reached the final at the Ivy scrimmages last weekend, enter the season ranked third in the preseason poll, while the Princeton men stand at eighth after making their return to the championship bracket in 2018.

The Princeton women, led by senior captains Kate Feeley and Isabel Hirshberg, are coming off a memorable 13-1 regular season, which included a thrilling comeback win over Trinity and a 6-1 performance in Ivy League play. While the Tigers did lose a pair of All-Americans in Olivia Fiechter and Kira Keating, they brought in one of this most impressive freshman classes in years. The group is led by Bubble Lui, who is expected to replace Fiechter at the No. 1 position entering the weekend.

Princeton has a talented mix of both youth and experience in its starting lineup. Senior Samantha Chai, one of the toughest competitors in the Princeton lineup over the last three years, joins Hirshberg and Feeley to bring veteran leadership to the lineup, while sophomores Raneem El-Torky, Grace Doyle and Emme Leonard are sophomores who are ready to build on a full year of starting experience under their belts. Head coach Gail Ramsay could have a number of new freshmen in her lineup this year; you can read about the Class of 2022 here.

The Tiger men used a dramatic midseason win at Penn to catapult themselves back into the top flight of teams in college squash, and they are ready to fight for that position once again this season. Tri-captains Clark Doyle, Adham El-Sherbiny and Gabriel Morgan will lead a roster that should also blend both youth and experience, especially in the top half of the lineup. Both Doyle and Adhitya Raghavan have multiple years of experience playing in the upper half of the Princeton lineup, and they could be joined by the freshman duo of Daelum Mawji and Howe Cheng to open the season.

Injuries hampered Princeton throughout the 2017-18 season, but head coach Sean Wilkinson believes players like Morgan and Shehab Thabet can enhance a lineup that should return a pair of sophomores building off strong debut seasons in Alex Engstrom and Duncan Joyce. Senior Cody Cortes and junior Henry Parkhurst have also been impressive competitors over their careers, and they'll bring greater experience to the lineup starting this weekend.