BRIEF: Women's Squash Tops Princeton in Convincing Fashion

Another day, another top three opponent humbled. Just 24 hours after defeating No. 2 Penn, the No. 1 Harvard women’s squash team (4-0, 3-0 Ivy) cruised past No. 3 Princeton, 9-0, at the Murr Center Squash Courts on Sunday.

Led by freshmen Sabrina Sobhy and Kayley Leonard, No. 1 and No. 2 in the lineup respectively, the Crimson dropped just three sets total on the night against the Tigers (4-1, 0-1 Ivy). Princeton came into the match having yet to drop a game, sweeping its previous four matches, 9-0.

Sobhy, whose sister Amanda ’15 was last year’s individual national champion for Harvard, started proceedings by sweeping sophomore Olivia Fiechter. After missing the first two matches, Sobhy has already emerged as one of the team’s heavy hitters.

Leonard, who deputised in the No. 1 spot briefly to start the season, then dispatched her old Greenwich Academy teammate, junior Maria Elena Ubina, to improve to 4-0 on the season. Greenwich is well-represented on both rosters, with the Tigers featuring four alumni and the Crimson two.

Harvard has been dominant to start the season, dropping just three games out of 36 in four matches. Last year’s national champions look dangerous once again, having defeated both of their closest competitors already this season.

Sophomore Alyssa Mehta and her freshman sister, Sophie, Toronto natives, won in the third and eighth spots, respectively. Alyssa defeated senior Rachel Leizman to reach 3-1 on the year while Sophie swept freshman Isabel Hirshberg to stay undefeated.

The Mehtas’ high school teammate, fellow Branksome Hall alumna Michelle Gemmell, defeated sophomore Kira Keating in the fifth spot. Another Toronto native, junior Dileas McGowan, defeated junior Gabriella Garr at No. 7. McGowan lost the first game of her Crimson career against Penn, but rebounded against Princeton to end the weekend with a 30-1 collegiate record.

Junior Katherine Tutrone swept fellow junior Alexandra Toth to climb above .500 on the year. Sue Ann Yong won in the No. 6 spot, winning all three sets against freshman Samantha Chai.

In her last career regular season match against the Tigers, captain Saumya Karki defeated senior Isabella Bersani, 3-0, to improve to 37-5 for Harvard all-time.

—Staff writer Manav Khandelwal can be reached at manavkhandelwal@college.harvard.edu.