The official blog of the
harvard men's and women's squash
Friday, February 13, 2015
Women’s Nationals + Men finish ranked #3
Women’s Nationals
The regular season is over and it’s time to play for national titles! The women’s tournament starts tomorrow (Friday) at Harvard. The men will compete next weekend at Trinity.
After our women beat Trinity 8-1 last week, they took over the #1 ranking and are therefore seeded #1 this weekend. The team will face #8 GWU in the first round. The match starts at 2:15pm (Friday) and will be streamed at http://www.
To see the draw, go to http://
Men finish regular season ranked #3
Our men’s team played their last regular season match this past Tuesday against Trinity. The #1 ranked Bantams took an early lead and never let Harvard catch up. The Crimson took wins at #1, #3 and #5 but lost the rest of the matches (2 of them in 5 games).
The men are ranked #3 and will most likely face #6 Rochester in the first round of the national tournament next weekend. The final rankings will be published early next week.
Full results
Harvard (men) vs. Trinity 3-6
http://modules.ussquash.com/
Monday, February 9, 2015
Men win Ivy Title + Women beat #1 Trinity
Our men’s team won this year’s Ivy League Championship after beating Brown on the road yesterday. The men had already secured a share of the title after beating Yale (7-2) on Friday but yesterday’s win guaranteed sole ownership of the trophy. The team didn’t lose against any Ivy teams this season. It’s the 40th Ivy title for the men’s program.
The women ended their Ivy season with two 9-0 wins against Yale and Brown. The team finished second in the league behind UPenn. The Quakers beat Harvard 5-4 in January.
Women regain #1 ranking
Before beating Yale and Brown, our women’s team took a solid win (8-1) against #1 Trinity on Wednesday. The result will most likely put Harvard on top of the seedings for next weekend’s National Team Championships. The official rankings will be published early this week.
There’s still one more match to be played before next weekend: Our men’s team (ranked #3 in the country) will finish their regular season against #1 Trinity tomorrow (Tuesday). The match starts at 4pm at the Murr Center and will be streamed at http://www.
Go Crimson!
Full Results:
Harvard vs. Trinity (women) 8-1
http://modules.ussquash.com/
Harvard vs. Yale (women) 9-0
http://modules.ussquash.com/
Harvard vs. Yale (men) 7-2
http://modules.ussquash.com/
Harvard vs. Brown (women) 9-0
http://modules.ussquash.com/
Harvard vs. Brown (men) 9-0
http://modules.ussquash.com/
Upcoming matches & tournaments:
Feb 10th
Trinity (men) @ Harvard – 4pm
Feb 13th – 15th
Women’s Team National Championships @ Harvard
Feb 20th – 22nd
Men’s Team National Championships @ Trinity
Feb 27th – Mar 1st
Individual National Championships @ Princeton
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Wins against Cornell and Columbia
This past weekend was a great one for Harvard Squash: Both teams beat Cornell (men 7-2, women 9-0) and Columbia (men 6-3, women 9-0). Our women also took wins against Colby (9-0) and Stanford (8-1).
The highlight of the weekend was definitely the men’s win against Columbia. The Lions are ranked third in the country while Harvard is currently #6. Our men’s team is now on top of the Ivy League rankings with matches against Yale (Feb 6th) and Brown (Feb 8th) still to be played this week.
The weekend was a special one for another reason too: Before the Cornell match on Saturday, we recognized two of our generous donors (John ’79 & Katherine Heller as well as Slade & Caroline McLaughlin P’14,’17) who made it possible for us to install brand new scoreboards and live streaming cameras this season. The scoreboards were used for the first time this past weekend and we received a lot of positive feedback from both players and spectators. Live streaming has been available for the whole season and we know that many of you have been following our home matches online (http://www.
The last matches of the regular season will be played in the next 1.5 weeks. The schedule is attached below.
Full results:
Harvard vs. Cornell (men) 7-2
http://modules.ussquash.com/
Harvard vs. Cornell (women) 9-0
http://modules.ussquash.com/
Harvard vs Colby (women) 9-0
http://modules.ussquash.com/
Harvard vs. Columbia (men) 6-3
http://modules.ussquash.com/
Harvard vs. Columbia (women) 9-0
http://modules.ussquash.com/
Harvard vs. Stanford (women) 8-1
http://modules.ussquash.com/
Upcoming matches:
Feb 4th
Trinity (women) @ Harvard – 4pm
Feb 6th
Yale @ Harvard – 6pm
Feb 8th
Brown @ Brown – Noon (men), 2pm (women)
Feb 10th
Trinity (men) @ Harvard – 4pm
Hope to see many of you at the matches.
Go Crimson!
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Trinity match postponed + Bob Callahan
Today’s Harvard vs. Trinity match has been postponed due to the severe weather conditions. The men’s match has been rescheduled for February 10th. The women will play on either the 3rd or 4th.
Once the date for the women’s match has been confirmed (hopefully later today), it will be posted on http://www.gocrimson.com
Bob Callahan, 1955-2015
It’s a profoundly sad day for all of us in college squash: Former Princeton men’s squash coach, Bob Callahan, passed away yesterday at the age of 59. His tireless work in college squash left a significant mark on the sport we love. He will be missed.
Obituaries on US Squash’s and CSA’s websites:
http://www.ussquash.com/bob-
Upcoming matches:
Saturday, Jan 31st
Cornell (men and women) – Noon
Colby (men and women) – 3pm
Sunday, Feb 1st
Columbia (men and women) – Noon
Stanford (women) – 2pm
MIT (men) – 3pm
We will be recognizing two of our generous donors before the Cornell match at 11:45am in front of court 3. There will also be a reception at the Murr Lounge (3rd floor) after the Colby match at 4:30pm. If you’re in the area, please come and join us.
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Both teams beat F&M
Both teams took impressive wins against F&M yesterday.
The women’s team bounced back after Sunday’s loss against UPenn and didn’t drop a single game. Our men played their best match of the season thus far and took a 9-0 win as well. It was a great way to end the 4-day road trip. Despite the women’s loss against UPenn, the coaches feel that it was a good weekend for both teams and that many players took big steps forward.
Instead of heading back to campus, the teams drove straight to NYC and traveled to the Cayman Islands today for their international training trip. We will be hosted by former top 10 professional, Mark Chaloner, and will train here for a week. We will be active on social media and keep you updated on how the trip goes.
Once we return from the Cayman, we’ll spend a couple of days in New York at the Tournament of Champions watching professional squash (with senior Amanda Sobhy in the main draw).
The next college match will be against Trinity on January 28th at Harvard. We hope to see many of you there.
Go Crimson!
Women’s F&M results:
http://modules.ussquash.com/
Men’s F&M results:
http://modules.ussquash.com/
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Women lose against UPenn
Our women played their hearts out against UPenn yesterday but fell short just at the end. With the overall score at 3-3, Amanda Sobhy was on her way to winning her match on the center court. That meant that Harvard needed one of the two remaining matches. Both Katie Tutrone and Michelle Gemmell were up in their matches (Tutrone 2-0 and Gemmell 2-1) but suddenly UPenn gained momentum. Both opponents started playing better and were able to turn their matches around. UPenn won 5-4 and is now a heavy favorite to win the Ivy League title.
The men’s team looked strong from the start and quickly took a 3-0 lead after the first round of matches. UPenn won at #1 and #4 but Harvard was able to win the rest of the matches. A 7-2 victory against UPenn promises good things for today’s F&M match which will most likely be a tougher test for the men’s team. F&M reached the semifinals at last year’s team nationals and are looking very strong this year.
The F&M matches will be streamed at: http://portal.stretchinternet.
Women will start their match at noon on five courts. The men’s team will play on three courts after the women’s match.
Women’s UPenn results:
http://modules.ussquash.com/
Men’s UPenn results:
http://modules.ussquash.com/
Monday, January 12, 2015
Both teams win 7-2 against Princeton
The teams started their spring season with two 7-2 wins over Princeton yesterday.
Our men’s #1 Madhav Dhingra and #2 Dylan Murray lost their matches at the top but the rest of the squad won theirs. While most matches were over in three games, Matt Roberts at #7 survived three match balls and came back to win in five games.
On the women’s side, our two freshmen, Alyssa Mehta and Sue Ann Yong, both lost a game but made the necessary adjustments to win their matches in four games. Amanda Sobhy, Michelle Gemmell, Dileas MacGowan and Julianne Chu won in three games. Our women’s #2, co-captain Haley Mendez, played her first match of the season against Princeton after a foot injury. She played well in patches but her opponent was too strong and beat her in three. Katie Tutrone at #3 had five match balls but wasn’t able to close the match and eventually lost in five games.
The teams are looking forward to today’s match against UPenn. The women start their match at noon and the men at 2pm. There will be no streaming at UPenn but we will tweet live scores on Twitter:http://www.twitter.com/
Princeton Results:
Men
http://modules.ussquash.com/
Women
http://modules.ussquash.com/
Saturday, January 10, 2015
Exhibition against Oxford
When the teams returned to campus earlier this week, we played an exhibition against University of Oxford. The last time the schools played against each other was in 2000. Even though Harvard won all six matches, many of them were very close. The longest match of the evening was played by sophomore Katie Tutrone and former Harvard student and national champion, Laura Gemmell, who represented Oxford after completing her master’s degree there last year. In the end, Tutrone beat Gemmell in five games.
Harvard was the first stop for Oxford on their US tour. They will play a few more matches in Boston before traveling to New York. We’re hoping to play against them again soon – possibly in England.
Monday, December 8, 2014
Men lose nail-biter against Rochester
Rochester is always a big match on our calendar. We knew that with their strong freshman class, they would be much tougher than their #5 ranking.
Rochester took the lead after their #3 Neil Cordell beat Dylan Murray in three. The Crimson bounced back quickly though with Sam Goldberg at #9 and Devin McLaughlin at #6 winning their matches 3-1 and 3-2 respectively.
Bradley Smith won the first game at #2 but eventually lost in four. Mandela Patrick at #8 wasn’t able to get a game off of his opponent but at the same time, Matt Roberts at #5 played one of the best matches of his college career: Roberts came back from 0-1 down to win in four and leveled the overall score at 3-3.
Madhav Dhingra at #1 didn’t have his best day and his talented opponent won fairly comfortably in three. That gave Rochester a 4-3 lead and meant that Harvard needed to win both of the remaining matches. After Tyler Olson at #7 finished off his solid weekend with a close 3-1 win, it was all up to Bryan Koh at #4. Koh struggled at the beginning as his opponent was controlling the middle very well. Koh went down 0-2 but came back strong in the third. After winning the third, he even had a couple of game balls in the fourth but his opponent stayed in it and eventually won 13-11 and clinched the match.
Full results:
http://modules.ussquash.com/
The coaches think that the team played a lot better than yesterday against St. Lawrence. Many of the players made necessary adjustments and were able to overcome difficult circumstances successfully. Considering that we’re still missing a few players due to injuries, we think that the weekend was a solid one and serves as good preparation for the rest of the season.
While the men were on the road this weekend, the women’s team and the men’s JV team were playing scrimmages at Harvard. The women also played one official match against Boston College today and won comfortably 9-0. The round robin at home was a great experience for players down the ladders as they don’t get many chances to play other schools.
The players are now focusing on their final exams. The season continues in January with matches against Princeton, Penn and F&M before our international trip to the Cayman Islands.
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Amanda clinches historic decider at the World Teams
Amanda Sobhy ’15 beat world #6, Camille Serme, and secured Team USA’s win against France in the 5/6 playoff at the World Team Championship in Canada today. This is the best ever finish for the US Women’s team at this level.
Harvard Squash is extremely proud of Amanda and the rest of the team. Congratulations!
Read more about the match and access the video replays here:
http://www.ussquash.com/team-