The men fought past 5th ranked Franklin & Marshall in the semifinals today by a score of 9-0. Six matches were won in three games. Dylan Murray, Tommy Mullaney and Bryan Koh went to four. Despite the overall score, each individual had to play very well to get through. They will face 2nd seed Trinity in the finals tomorrow. Trinity had strong wins over Cornell in the quarters and Yale in the semi’s.

The Crimson men are well-prepared for this. They are fit, focused and have pushed through the draw in businesslike fashion. They are now in full recovery mode with stretching, ice baths and good food.

Harvard’s last national title was in 1998.

The glass court matches will be steamed live at:

http://www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com/harvard

Both Harvard teams secured this year’s Ivy titles today after beating Brown in the last matches of the regular season. It was a great way to end the week during which both teams beat Trinity and Yale on the road.

This weekend started off well at Yale on Friday as the women beat Yale 7-2 and the men won 6-3. Megan Murray, Dileas MacGowan, Julianne Chu, Katie Tutrone and Amanda Sobhy won their matches in three games while Haley Mendez and Saumya Karki had to battle through five long games to win. Izzy Dowling and Michelle Gemmell played well against their opponents but lost in three.

The men were stronger than Yale at the top and bottom of the ladder but struggled at #4, #5 and #6. Our Top 3 won their matches 3-0. Gary Power at #4 and Nigel Koh at #5 lost their matches in four and Bryan Koh at #6 lost a five-setter in a tie-break after having done the same against Trinity earlier in the week. Nick Hopcroft at #7 and Tommy Mullaney at #8 both won in three while Tyler Olson at #9 needed four games to beat his opponent.

Both of the Brown matches today were fairly one-sided. However, Bryan Koh had his third five-setter of the week but this time, he was able to clinch the match 14-12 in the decider. On the women’s side, Julianne Chu was pushed to four games in her match. However, both teams won 9-0.

After the Brown match, the men’s JV team ended their season with a 9-0 win against Boston University.

In addition to winning the Ivy Championships, both teams finished the regular season unbeaten. That means that both of them will be seeded #1 at the National Championships. The Men’s Nationals will be played at Harvard next weekend and the Women’s Nationals will be hosted by Princeton the weekend after.

Thank you for all the support during the regular season! We hope to see many of you at both Nationals. Go Crimson!

Results:

Yale Women 

http://modules.ussquash.com/ssm/pages/leagues/list_scorecard.asp?id=55237

Yale Men

http://modules.ussquash.com/ssm/pages/leagues/list_scorecard.asp?id=55176

Brown Women

http://modules.ussquash.com/ssm/pages/leagues/list_scorecard.asp?id=60564

Brown Men

http://modules.ussquash.com/ssm/pages/leagues/list_scorecard.asp?id=60558

Boston University Men

http://modules.ussquash.com/ssm/pages/leagues/list_scorecard.asp?id=61332

Upcoming Matches:

Feb 14 – 16

Men’s Nationals @ Harvard

Feb 21 – 23

Women’s Nationals @ Princeton

Feb 28 – Mar 2

Individual Nationals @ Penn

Both Harvard teams got a solid start to this critical week, beating Trinity College last night in Hartford, CT.

The women jumped to an early 2-0 lead with Megan Murray at #9 and Julianne Chu at #6 winning in three games. Trinity was able to fight back but wins by Michelle Gemmell at #5 and Dileas MacGowan at #7 kept Harvard in the match. After Haley Mendez at #2 lost her match 16-14 in the fifth, it was up to #1 Amanda Sobhy to step on court for the clincher. Despite a tie-breaker in the second game, Amanda beat her opponent in three and secured the win for The Crimson.

On the men’s side, Harvard went up 2-1 after the first round of play as Dylan Murray at #3 and Tyler Olson at #9 won their matches. Bryan Koh at #6 lost a nail-biter 17-15 in the fifth after having a couple of match balls. After seniors Tommy Mullaney at #8 and Nigel Koh at #5 won their matches in four, it was Brandon McLaughlin who secured the win for Harvard by beating his opponent 11-4 in the fifth game. To top it off, Gary Power and Ali Farag both won in three to record a 7-2 victory overall.

Both teams remain unbeaten this season.

As expected, it was a packed venue with a mass of passionate Trinity fans. However, it was great to see so many parents and alumni come and support both Harvard teams. Trinity definitely did not have the usual home court advantage and that was a big help for all of our players.

While the coaches are happy about the results, there is still work to be done. The teams are playing again on Friday against Yale. The Ivy titles are on the line so it should be another great evening of squash. Hope to see many of you there!

Full Results:

Women

http://modules.ussquash.com/ssm/pages/leagues/list_scorecard.asp?id=61329

Men

http://modules.ussquash.com/ssm/pages/leagues/list_scorecard.asp?id=55112

Upcoming matches:

Friday, 7th of February

Men

#3 Yale vs. #2 Harvard @ 6pm (away)

Women

#5 Yale vs. #1 Harvard @ 6pm (away)

Sunday, 9th of February

Men

#2 Harvard vs. #19 Brown @ 12pm

#2 Harvard vs. #37 Boston University @ 2:30pm

Women

#1 Harvard vs. #10 Brown @ 12pm

Both Harvard teams proved that they are ready for the toughest week of the regular season by beating Cornell and Columbia this past weekend.

The men’s team won both of their matches 8-1 while the women beat Cornell 8-1 and Columbia 9-0. It was great to see many alumni and parents come to Sunday’s Columbia match which – as Head Coach Mike Way predicted – turned out to be the most exciting sporting event of the day…

The women played their full line-up for both matches and apart from a couple of individual matches, the players scored solid victories on both days. The men had a few close matches against both teams: Nigel Koh had to battle through five games and his brother, Bryan, as well as Dylan Murray both needed four games to get the job done against Cornell. Against Columbia, Brandon McLaughlin won in five games and Ali Farag beat Ramit Tandon in four close sets.

Full results and reports on GoCrimson.com:

Cornell Men

http://gocrimson.com/sports/msquash/2013-14/releases/20140201cvww90

Cornell Women

http://gocrimson.com/sports/wsquash/2013-14/releases/20140201ykwfab

Columbia Men

http://gocrimson.com/sports/msquash/2013-14/releases/201402024lscam

Columbia Women

http://gocrimson.com/sports/wsquash/2013-14/releases/20140202kz3lyg

Next up: Trinity @ 6pm on Tuesday

The teams had an easy day today and they will travel to Trinity College tomorrow for one of the most anticipated matches of the season. As US Squash wrote last week: “All four teams are currently undefeated, and the winners of each match will have the inside track to the top seed in the CSA Team Championships.”

We hope to see you there but if you can’t make it to Hartford, you should be able to watch the match through Trinity’s streaming service:

http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/trincoll.portal#

You can also follow the match through the Harvard Squash Twitter feed:

https://twitter.com/harvardsquash

Go Crimson!

Upcoming matches

Tuesday, 4th of February

Men

#1 Trinity vs. #2 Harvard @ 6pm (away)

Women

#2 Trinity vs. #1 Harvard @ 6pm (away)

Friday, 7th of February

Men

#3 Yale vs. #2 Harvard @ 6pm (away)

Women

#5 Yale vs. #1 Harvard @ 6pm (away)

Sunday, 9th of February

Men

#2 Harvard vs. #19 Brown @ 12pm

#2 Harvard vs. #37 Boston University @ 2:30pm

Women

#1 Harvard vs. #10 Brown @ 12pm

Did you receive the Dave Fish book in the mail?

Friends of Harvard Squash mailed out a book called “A History of Harvard Men’s Squash during the Dave Fish Coaching Era” last month. The book was sent along with a Save-The-Date for the Dave Fish event in March.

If you did NOT receive a copy of the book, it is likely that we have a wrong address on file. If that’s the case, please send an e-mail to hameedahmed@fas.harvard.edu with your mailing address and we will make sure that you get one.

A Friends of Harvard Squash event honoring Dave Fish and Harvard Men’s Squash Teams 1976-1989 will take place on Saturday, March 29th, at the Murr Center. It includes a cocktail reception followed by dinner. There will be a chance to meet the current Harvard teams on Friday, March 28th.

Directions to the Columbia match

Some of you have asked us for directions to StreetSquash in Harlem where the Columbia match will be played at noon on Sunday.

Please visit the StreetSquash website for directions:

http://www.streetsquash.org/get-involved/directions/

Trinity match and live streaming

While our teams are preparing for this weekend with matches against Cornell and Columbia, many of you are already looking forward to the Trinity match next Tuesday. The Trinity men are ranked #1, just above #2 Harvard. On the women’s side, Harvard is ranked #1 while Trinity is at #2.

We hope to see many of you at Trinity but if you can’t make it, you can follow the match live on Trinity’s streaming website:

http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/trincoll.portal#

Harvard vs Trinity @ 6pm on Feb 4th!

8-1 win against Rochester

The men’s team scored another 8-1 win against #5 Rochester on Sunday after beating #4 St. Lawrence the day before. While Dylan Murray lost at #3, Brandon McLaughlin and the Koh brothers were able to pull out close 3-2 wins. The rest of the matches were over in three games.

>> Match recap and complete results: 

http://gocrimson.com/sports/msquash/2013-14/releases/201401268xt55m

The men’s JV team also got a chance to play yesterday: They beat University of Toronto in an exhibition match 8-1.
The coaches are happy about the results and looking forward to next weekend’s away matches against Cornell and Columbia. Hope to see many of you in NYC for the Columbia match on Feb 2nd!

Amanda made it to the semi-finals in Greenwich

While our women down the order got a chance to play in the Top 9 against #19 St. Lawrence this weekend, Amanda Sobhy was competing at the Greenwich WSA tournament. After reaching the main draw at the Tournament of Champions last week, Amanda continued her great performances in Greenwich: Before losing against #2 seed Joelle King 3-2 in the semis, Amanda beat #4 seed Dipika Pallikal and #6 seed Nour El Sherbini – both Top 20 players on the World Tour.

>> Read more about the Greenwich tournament at http://www.squashsite.co.uk/2009/greenwichopen2014.htm

Upcoming matches:

Saturday 1st of Feb

Men

#2 Harvard vs. #8 Cornell @ 12pm (away)

Women

#1 Harvard vs. #6 Cornell @ 12pm (away)

Sunday 2nd of Feb

Men

#2 Harvard vs. #12 Columbia @ 12pm (away)

Women

#1 Harvard vs. #9 Columbia @ 12pm (away)

The men’s team played very well tonight against #4 St. Lawrence to score an 8-1 victory in front of a packed audience at the Murr Center. In one of the most anticipated matches of the season, Ali Farag beat Amr Khalifa in three games at the #1 position. It was a repeat of last year’s semi-final of the Individual Nationals in which Khalifa beat Farag and ended up winning the title. While Brandon McLaughlin lost against #2 Moustafa Bayoumy in a close match, the rest of the men were able to close out tough matches in three games. Only the Koh brothers lost individual games against their opponents.

The Harvard women won comfortably 9-0 against #19 ranked St. Lawrence. It was an opportunity for women down the order to get competitive matches: Caroline Monrad, Keegan Mendez and Natasha Anzik recorded wins in the top 9 while Allie Sperry, Georgie Brinkley and Julie Monrad won at #10, #11 and #12.

The women have a day off tomorrow but the men will have another tough match against #5 Rochester. The match starts at 1pm. You can follow it live on the team’s Twitter page.

Go Crimson!

Today’s results:

Men

http://modules.ussquash.com/ssm/pages/leagues/list_scorecard.asp?id=60117

Women

http://modules.ussquash.com/ssm/pages/leagues/list_scorecard.asp?id=59591

The Harvard Squash Teams spent a few days at the Tournament of Champions in New York City last weekend. Both Ali Farag and Amanda Sobhy were able to qualify into the main draw of the tournament, beating some of the world’s top players on the way. You can read about their matches on gocrimson.com:

http://gocrimson.com/sports/wsquash/2013-14/releases/20140121t5xdfz

It was great to see many alumni come down for the matches and for the alumni hit-around at the Harvard Club on Monday. A special thank you to Richard Chin for arranging that!

After an exciting weekend the teams have returned to campus to get ready for the upcoming college matches. The schedule for this weekend is below:

Saturday, January 25th

Men
#2 Harvard vs. #4 St. Lawrence @ 5pm

Women
#1 Harvard vs. #19 St. Lawrence @ 5pm

Sunday, January 26th

Men
#2 Harvard vs. #5 Rochester @ 1pm
#2 Harvard vs. University of Toronto @ 4pm (exhibition match)

The women only have a match against St. Lawrence while the men play against St. Lawrence and Rochester. On the men’s side, both opponents have improved significantly over the past years and will challenge The Crimson at every position. The men’s JV team will play an exhibition match against University of Toronto after the Rochester match.

We hope to see many of you at the Murr Center this weekend!

After beating Princeton 6-3 yesterday, the women’s team had another tough match against Penn today. Turns out the women were up for the challenge:

Penn started off strong and won all 3 matches of the first round. Despite being 0-3 down, the women fought back with Izzy Dowling at #8, Michelle Gemmell at #5 and Haley Mendez at #2, all winning close matches. While Amanda Sobhy won in three at #1, the team needed one more win to seal the victory. Both Dileas MacGowan (#7) and Saumya Karki (#4) went into five games with their opponents but both of them stayed focused and determined and were able to win in the deciding games. Another 6-3 win for the women against one of the top teams in the nation!

The men faced a slightly tired Penn’s team as Penn had beaten Dartmouth on Saturday in a close match 5-4. The Crimson continued from where they left off against Princeton on Saturday and recorded another 9-0 win. The men’s team will be tested again in couple of weeks with matches against St. Lawrence and Rochester (Jan 25-26th). Both of these teams are on the rise this year and will be a challenge to beat.

Thank you for all your support through the weekend!

The teams are off to NYC this week to watch both Amanda and Ali play in the qualifying for the Tournament of Champions. Members of the teams will also be playing with alumni at the Harvard Club on Monday (Jan 20th).

The full results of today:

Women

http://modules.ussquash.com/ssm/pages/leagues/list_scorecard.asp?id=61328

Men

http://modules.ussquash.com/ssm/pages/leagues/list_scorecard.asp?id=61330

The girls’ team turned around a close 4-5 loss at November’s Scrimmages and walked away with a 6-3 win today. The top 3 (Amanda Sobhy, Haley Mendez and Katie Tutrone) won fairly comfortably with only Haley losing a game against her opponent. Dileas MacGowan at #7 fought bravely throughout her long match and eventually won 15-13 in the fifth. Impressive 3-1 wins from Michelle Gemmell at #5 and Izzy Dowling at #8 solidified the victory. A great win and confidence booster for tomorrow’s match against Penn’s tough line-up.

The men didn’t lose a single match today. Brandon McLaughlin, Dylan Murray and Nigel Koh had to work hard to win their individual matches but were able to beat their opponents in five in the end. The team is very happy with a 9-0 win and looking forward to keeping it going against Penn tomorrow.

A great day for Crimson Squash! Just like today, tomorrow’s match against Penn will be followed live on Twitter (https://twitter.com/harvardsquash). Both matches start at 12:00.

The full results for today’s matches can be found through US Squash (links below):

Men

http://modules.ussquash.com/ssm/pages/leagues/list_scorecard.asp?id=55136

Women

http://modules.ussquash.com/ssm/pages/leagues/list_scorecard.asp?id=55324