The official blog of the
harvard men's and women's squash
Monday, October 12, 2015
2014/15 Annual Report
Please click here to view the Friends of Harvard Squash FY15 Annual Report. The document provides an overview of how your support is making a real difference for Harvard Squash.
Thank you for the continued support.
Monday, September 14, 2015
Serve & Return – October 24th
Our alumni event in October is just around the corner.
Please go to RSVP.
https://www.harvardvarsityclub.org//article.html?aid=999
We’re looking forward to seeing many of you there!
Thursday, August 13, 2015
2015 Summer Update
Dear Harvard Squash family,
We hope you’re all enjoying the summer. The Murr Center squash courts will remain fairly empty for another month before students return and we will start to prepare for another season. Meanwhile, we wanted to update you on what’s happened with our program and what will take place in the next couple of months:
Congratulations to our Class of 2015 – Sobhy and Mendez receive senior awards
This year, we say goodbye to a big women’s senior class and both of our men’s senior co-captains. All of them have had a significant impact on the program and we wish them all the best in their future endeavors.
Harvard Squash Class of 2015:
Julianne Chu, Haley Mendez, Julie Monrad, Megan Murray, Amanda Sobhy, Tyler Olson and Sachin Patel.
During graduation week, both Sobhy and Mendez were recognized at this year’s Senior Letterwinners’ Dinner. Sobhy was selected the top female athlete of her class (The Radcliffe Prize) for all of her accomplishments in the last four years. Co-Captain Mendez was recognized for overcoming her multiple injuries to make a contribution to her team (John P. Fadden Award).
Read more about the event and awards on GoCrimson.com:
http://www.gocrimson.com/
Summer Alumni Events in Boston and New York
Alumni from mostly Reunion classes (‘0’s and ‘5’s) came to the Murr Center in late May to reconnect with teammates and the coaching staff during Reunion Weekend. The 1990 Women’s Howe Cup and Ivy Champion team had a perfect attendance (and Marty Clark ’93 represented his sister and that team’s Tri-Captain, Stephanie Clark ’91.). Alumni children also had the chance to enjoy the great spirit of the squash program. Dave Fish ’72 stopped in and according to many hasn’t changed a bit!
Former team members also got together at the Harvard Club of NYC later in the summer. Many of our current players joined alumni for the hit around as well as drinks and food afterwards. Once again, we want to thank Richard Chin and his staff for hosting us – it was a great evening!
Check out pictures from the events on our Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.
Serve and Return – October 24th
The Serve and Return alumni and team celebration will take place on October 24th at the Murr Center. As part of this historic event, we will have a hit around from 3-5pm for any eager players and at 6pm enjoy cocktails all together in the Hall of History, first floor of the Murr Center. During dinner, we will honor all of the coaching eras beginning with Harry Cowles, Jack Barnaby, Dave Fish, the first years of women’s teams, Steve Piltch, Bill Doyle and Satinder Bajwa.
We will have the complete book, which has been written by Rob Dinerman, available at the event. Invitations will go out in a few weeks so please keep an eye out for one in the mail as well as in your email box.
We have also designed and developed a new website for the program and its history. The site will be launched soon and we will let you know once it’s live.
What else has been going on?
Amanda Sobhy ’15
won three gold medals at the Pan American Games in Toronto in July. She became the first player ever to win three golds in a single Pan Am event.
Read more:
http://www.worldsquash.org/ws/
– Friends Co-Chair
Hope Prockop ’90
(U.S. Women’s 40+ and 45+ Champion) won the Women’s 45+ British Open Masters title in May. Prockop was unseeded and beat the top seed in the semifinal and the two seed in the final.
Read more:
http://www.ussquash.com/
George Lemmon ’83
reached the final of the U.S. Father & Son Doubles Championships together with his son, George B. In the final, they were beaten by Chris and Carson Spahr who defeated
Tommy Mullaney ’14
and his father, Tom, in the quarterfinals.
Read more:
http://www.ussquash.com/
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Men finish 3rd in the nation
Harvard bounced back quickly from the semifinal loss against St. Lawrence by beating Columbia 6-3 on Sunday and finishing the season ranked #3 in the nation. Even without their #1 and #3 , Columbia was stronger at the top but Harvard won most of the matches at the middle and bottom.
The coaches are happy with the season despite the semifinal loss. The top 6 players of the team are either freshmen or sophomores and all of them have improved and matured significantly since the start of the season. The team is only losing one out of its top 9 players and is looking to be stronger next year with the new recruits joining the team. In addition, the team won this year’s Ivy League title and that’s obviously a great achievement on its own.
There’s one more week to go in the college season: The individual nationals will be played at Princeton next weekend. Harvard’s Amanda Sobhy ’15 is seeded to win her fourth individual national title. The draws will be published later this week at http://
Full results from men’s team nationals:
Quarterfinal
Harvard vs. Rochester 5-4
http://modules.ussquash.com/
Semifinal
Harvard vs. St. Lawrence 4-5
http://modules.ussquash.com/
3/4 playoff
Harvard vs. Columbia 6-3
http://modules.ussquash.com/
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Men lose against St. Lawrence
Our men fought hard in yesterday’s semifinal against St. Lawrence but ended up losing the match 5-4. Harvard won at #4, #5, #6 and #7 but St. Lawrence was stronger at the top and bottom.
We are playing against Columbia in the 3/4 playoff this afternoon at 1:30pm.
You can follow the match through US Squash’s live scoring service at:
https://clublocker.com/static/
Draws on the CSA website:
Saturday, February 21, 2015
Men make it to the semis
In one of the closest matches of the college season, #3 Harvard beat #6 Rochester 5-4 last night. The Crimson will play against #2 St. Lawrence in the semifinal of the nationals today at 2:30pm.
Harvard started off well against Rochester and was up 3-1. Rochester leveled the score quickly though so it was down to the last round of matches. #1 Madhav Dhingra was up 2-0, while David Ryan at #4 and Tyler Olson at #7 were at 1-1 in their matches. Ryan stuck to his game plan and took a 3-1 win giving Harvard a 4-3 lead. Meanwhile, Dhingra had lost his lead and Olson was going into the fifth game as well. It was Olson who clinched the match in the end with a 12-10 win in the fifth game. Dhingra lost his match in five.
You can follow the semifinal today through US Squash’s live scoring service at:
https://clublocker.com/static/
Draws on the CSA website:
Saturday, February 21, 2015
Men’s Nationals + Sobhy sisters
Men’s Nationals
The men’s nationals start today at Trinity College. #3 Harvard faces #6 Rochester in the first round at 5:30pm.
The teams played against each other in December with Rochester winning 5-4. The Crimson played that match without #4 David Ryan and #9 Seif Abou Eleinen who are now back in the line-up. However, the match will be a tough one. After all, Rochester is the only team that was able to beat #1 Trinity in the regular season.
As far as we know, the match will not be streamed online. However, we will be updating the scores on our Twitter feed (https://twitter.com/
Draws on the CSA website:
The Sobhy sisters in Boston Globe
Amanda Sobhy ’15, and her sister, Sabrina, who is starting at Harvard next year, were featured in an insightful article in the Boston Globe yesterday. It’s great to see these two world-class players getting some mainstream media coverage and representing the Harvard program.
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Women win National Championship!
Our women won the National Championship after beating Trinity 7-2 in the final on Sunday!
While the score was 7-2, all of the matches were very close.
What really impressed the coaches was the tactical clarity and calm determination the players showed throughout the weekend. Every member of the team fought like there was no tomorrow.
This is a team that lost against UPenn at the beginning of January. We also battled with a number of injuries throughout the spring; the worst one with our #2, co-captain Haley Mendez, who tore her ACL a few weeks before nationals. But instead of throwing in the towel, all of our players stepped up their game and the team went on to beat Trinity 8-1 in the regular season, Princeton 5-4 in the semifinal of the nationals, and eventually Trinity again in the final.
It was a true team effort. And therefore it’s impossible to mention one or two names. The level of execution from everyone in the last few weeks was something that the coaches are very proud of. The team truly deserves the national title.
Thank you for all the encouraging e-mails and phone calls. We really appreciate the support.
Read more about the final and watch the video recap on GoCrimson.com:
http://www.gocrimson.com/
Sobhy wins Richey award
Before the final, the CSA awarded Amanda Sobhy ’15 this year’s Richey award. The Richey Award is given annually to “the women’s college squash player who best exemplifies the ideals of squash in her love of and devotion to the game, her strong sense of fairness, and her excellence of play and leadership”.
All of the CSA coaches have a vote in the Richey Award process. We are so happy that Amanda is recognized as a role-model by other teams as well. She is one of the best, cleanest and fairest players in the history of college squash.
Read more about Amanda and the award on GoCrimson.com:
http://www.gocrimson.com/
Men’s team ready for their nationals
While the men’s team was supporting the women at home this weekend, they were getting ready for their most important weekend of the season: The men’s national tournament starts this Friday at Trinity. #3 Harvard will face #6 Rochester in the first round.
Draws & times will be published later this week on CSA’s website:
http://
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Women advance to the final
Our women’s team beat Princeton 5-4 today in the semifinal of the Nationals. The Crimson had to dig deep to stay in the match as Princeton won 4 of the first 6 matches and was up 4-2. After #1 Amanda Sobhy and #4 Michelle Gemmell won their matches and leveled the score, it was #7 Dileas MacGowan who clinched the match for Harvard after another solid performance.
You can read the recap of the match here: http://www.gocrimson.com/
In tomorrow’s Howe Cup final, Harvard will face the Trinity Bantams. Trinity beat UPenn 5-4 in the other semifinal today. The final will start at 4pm tomorrow (Sunday). It will be streamed online (http://www.
Full Results and Draw:
Harvard (women) vs. Princeton 5-4
http://modules.ussquash.com/
The Howe Cup Draw:
Friday, February 13, 2015
Women advance to semis at Nationals
Our women’s team kicked off the weekend with a 9-0 win over GWU today. None of the Crimson players lost a game and the team is ready for tomorrow’s semifinal against Princeton. The Tigers beat Yale in their first round match earlier today (6-3).
Based on the regular season match against Princeton, our team knows that the semifinal is going to be a close one. Princeton has always been one of the top teams in college squash and coach Gail Ramsey has put together another strong group this season. Our women will be up for this one and are looking forward to playing in front of a home crowd.
We saw many alumni and parents at the match today and hope to see many more tomorrow. The semifinal starts at 1:30pm. If you can’t make it to the Murr Center, you can watch the match online (http://www.
Full Results and Draw:
Harvard (women) vs. GWU 9-0
http://modules.ussquash.com/
The Howe Cup Draw: