Hall Qualifies for U.S. National Team

Last Friday, Louisa Hall was probably the happiest person in her class to realize that her English 17 final didn’t run the full three hours.

Because if it had, the women’s squash co-captain would have missed her train to the U.S. National Women’s Squash Team trials, and with it the opportunity to start off the final selection event for the U.S. Women’s National team on the right foot.

Fortunately, Hall’s early exit from “American Literature to 1915” meant that she had ample time to prepare for and cruise through the early matches of the U.S. Team trials, and hang on for a good-enough finish to secure the fourth slot on the national team.

The four-player squad will represent the United States at the Pan Am Federation Cup in Mexico City in June and the World Team Championships in Amsterdam in September.

The selection, while exciting, is not an unfamiliar experience—Hall was a member of the 2003 National team as well.

“It was a really great experience last time,” Hall said. “This year there was pressure to make it again, as opposed to last year where I had nothing to lose. People are gunning for you.”

Hall will be joined by former Crimson player Ivy Pochoda ’98 and Yale sophomore and intercollegiate champion Michelle Quibell, as well as Meredith Quick, who played with Hall on the 2003 national team.

Latasha Khan, the winner of the weekend’s pool and overall No. 1 selection for the team, will not play in the Pan Am Federation Cup due to a previous tournament commitment, but will play in the World Team Championships. Khan was also a member of the 2003 national team, winning individual gold.

The weekend’s team trials were the final factor in a complex formula that determines who makes the roster. The results of this event counted for 40 percent of a total calculation in which year-end national ranking accounts for 40 percent and one’s performance at the S.L. Green National championship—held in Seattle, Wash., earlier this year—counts for the other 20 percent.

The complexity of this formula played in Hall’s favor, since she actually finished fifth overall in the weekend’s team trials. But her third-place finishes in the other two events gave her the weight necessary to claim her spot on the national squad.

“It wasn’t the best, but luckily I played well in other selection events,” Hall said, adding, “It’s really nerve-wracking because you’re around the other girls the whole time. It’s really intense.”

The first matches of the tournament were a breeze for the Harvard senior, as Hall beat Lily Lorentzen 3-1 and then swept Harvard alum Carlin Wing ’02 3-0.

Sunday proved a tougher contest, as Hall went up against the dominating Khan in the deciding game of her round-robin pool and fell 3-1.

“I was actually happy with the way I was playing at the beginning, but I got tired at the end, started wheezing,” Hall said of the match against Khan.

The loss set up Hall to face Quick, whom Hall had defeated at the Harvard Club Invitational early this year but lost to in the semifinals of Nationals. Both matches had gone to five games, and there was potential for another epic battle for a slot in the third-place playoff.

But Quick soundly trounced Hall in three games, 9-0, 9-1, 9-1.

“I feel like every girl had a match where she freaked out because of nerves,” Hall said. “That was mine. I got it out of my system.”

The loss sent Hall to a rematch with the under-19 U.S. champ Lorentzen, whom she had beaten three times this year.

The fourth time proved no different, as Hall cruised to an easy 3-0 win and a fifth-place finish in the trials.

Five of the competing players had Crimson connections—Lorentzen, a high school senior, has been accepted to Harvard but will take a year off and is expected to enroll in fall 2005. Lorentzen finished sixth overall, while Wing took eighth. Margaret Elias ’02, who is currently an assistant coach for the Crimson, also competed in the trials, finishing seventh overall.

The Harvard presence at the trials could have easily been greater had junior Lindsey Wilkins continued to contend for a spot on the national team.

“I was on the team, but I’m working in New York this summer,” Wilkins said, a touch regretfully.

—Staff writer Lisa J. Kennelly can be reached at kennell@fas.harvard.edu.