Women's Squash Competes at CSA Individual Championships

As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. The Harvard women’s squash team (13-0, 7-0 Ivy) sent five players to Stamford, Conn., over the weekend to compete in the CSA Individual Championships this pas weekend. The team, which had had a dominant, undefeated season, came away with neither the Ramsay Cup nor the Holleran Cup.

RAMSAY CUP

The Crimson’s top three players, freshmen Sabrina Sobhy and Kayley Leonard, and sophomore Alyssa Mehta competed for the coveted Ramsay Cup.

Sobhy, who is ranked No. 2 and holds a 9-1 record on the year at the No. 1 spot, had just helped her team to win the team championships with a dominant performance the previous outing, including a game-winning match.

No. 5-ranked Leonard posted a 10-1 record, mostly at the No. 2 position, and also had a strong performance in the team championships.

Sobhy was matched up against Penn’s No. 4 player Marie Stephan in the first round. Sobhy, who had played a tough match against Stephan’s teammate just last weekend, knew going into the match that it was going to be one that she had to fight for. After losing the first two games, it seemed that the Quaker was going to get the best of Sobhy. But the freshman rallied to take three straight games, earning her a spot in the quarterfinals.

Leonard competed against George Washington’s Anna Porras in the opening round of 16. She dominated against the Colonial, dropping only one game to win, 3-1.

“I’m overall very happy with the way that I played this weekend,” Leonard said. “No match that I played this weekend was easy…. The semi final match was very tough and close, but Kanzy proved to be the better player that day [and] was deserving of the match.”

No. 13 Mehta had a 10-2 run this year, playing mainly at the No. 3 spot. Mehta’s opening match of her second Ramsay Cup bid was against current Ivy Rookie of the Year, Princeton’s Olivia Fiechter, but the Crimson player fell, 3-1.

On Saturday, both Leonard and Sobhy were met with stiff competition and could not pull out the victory.

Earlier, in the day, Leonard avenged Mehta’s loss and made quick of her Fiechter with a 3-1 win, but fell to Trinity’s Kanzy El-Defrawy, 3-0, in the semifinal round.

Despite picking up a win in one of the games, Sobhy was unable to ride the momentum of her win the day before and lost, 3-1, to St. Lawrence’s Samy Laila.

In the consolation rounds, Mehta swept her opponents—Porras and Trinity’s Raneem Sharaf—in both the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds, which earned her a spot in the finals. Mehta then played Marie Stephan but lost.

“The highlight of my season was definitely winning the national title last weekend,” Leonard said. “I only recently realized how special of a feeling it is to be a member of a national championship team.”

HOLLERAN CUP

Both junior Dileas MacGowan and freshman Sophie Mehta made their postseason debuts in the Individual tournaments, with MacGowan vying for the D division trophy, and Mehta for the A division title.

MacGowan went for 11-2 this year while playing mainly at the No. 8 spot but seeing action at four other spots in the Crimson lineup. She played William’s Hayley Parsons in the round of 16, handing her opponent in a 3-1 win. She then lost by that score in the quarterfinal round against George Washington’s Breanne Flynn.

No. 49 Sophie Mehta had an 11-1 record in the eighth and ninth spots in the lineup. She was swept by Quaker Haidi Lala in the opening round, and faced St. Lawrence’s Emily Terry in the consolation quarterfinals. Like her elder sister, Mehta swept Terry and her semifinal round opponent to make it to the final round.

“I think some of my tactics got better over the season,” Mehta said. “Squash is a game that involves a lot of thinking and our coaches always emphasize playing 'smart' squash. I've tried to be more aware of the shots I hit over the season.”

She then faced Mary Fung-A-Fat in the finals, and swept her to take the consolation final match.

“I think I played well,” Mehta said. “It was nice to get to play some different girls who we don't play in team matches. We don't play Drexel as a team, but I played two girls from Drexel this weekend, so that was a good experience.”

—Staff writer Katherine H. Scott can be reached at katherinescott@college.harvard.edu.