Hartford, CT — Laura Gemmell of Harvard and Pamela Hathway of Trinity advanced to Sunday’s women’s “A” Division final, while Todd Harrity of Princeton and Colin West of Harvard advanced to the men’s “A” Division final.
Gemmell has dropped just one game the entire season en route to the Ramsay Cup finals. That loss of one game came in the first round of play this weekend, with Gemmell dropping the second game of her match against Cornell’s Rebecca Hazell. Gemmell, a first-year player, defeated Penn senior Sydney Scott in the round of 16 and her Harvard teammate Alisha Mashruwala in the quarterfinals.
In the semifinals, Gemmell played Yale number 1 Logan Greer. Gemmell won the first game 11-4, but Greer pushed back in the second, taking the game to 12-all. Gemmell won the next two points and didn’t look back. After winning the second game 14-12, she won the third 11-4, securing her place in the finals.
In the other women’s semifinal, Hathway faced Penn senior Kristen Lange, who was making a bid for her fourth consecutive trip to the individual finals. Hathway, the second seed in the draw, had defeated all of her opponents in the tournament 3-0: Yale’s Rhetta Nadas in the opening round, Harvard’s June Tiong in the round of 16, and Yale’s Sarah Toomey in the quarterfinals. The opening game between Hathway and Lange was close, with Hathway coming out on top, 14-12. She won the next game 11-5. Then Lange fought to the end in the final game, eventually falling 10-12, sending Hathway to her first Ramsay Cup final.
Colin West is the only senior to be in the finals. The Harvard co-captain entered the tournament as the top seed. He defeated Dartmouth’s Nick Sisodia in the opening round and beat F&M’s Gabriel De Melo in the round of 16. In the quarterfinals, West played Trinity’s Vikram Malhotra, winning that match 3-0.
West faced Rochester number 1 Beni Fischer in the semifinals. Fischer had played a close four-game match against Trinity’s Andres Vargas in the quarterfinals: 12-10, 10-12, 11-7, 11-5. The match between West and Fischer wasn’t as close, with West winning in three: 11-7, 11-6, 11-4.
Princeton freshman Todd Harrity had a more challenging road to the finals. Harrity dropped one game to Harvard’s Reed Endresen in the opening round and then defeated both Richard Hill of Harvard and Kelly Shannon of Princeton by a score of 3-0 in the next two rounds. His semifinal opponent, Trinity’s Antonio Salas, was somewhat of a surprise. Salas played at number 6 on Trinity’s national championship-winning team two weeks ago, and he wasn’t seeded coming into individuals. He upset his teammate, Trinity number 2 Parth Sharma, in the quarterfinals to make it into the semis.
With the home crowd cheering him on, Salas played his heart out. Harrity won the first two games 11-5, 11-9. Salas surged back, taking the next two games 11-5, 11-9. When the fifth game started, Harrity was back in control. Play was halted for a few minutes in the middle of the game as Salas’s right hand was bleeding, but when Salas came back he never regained the lead. Harrity won the final game 11-5 to make his first trip to the Pool Trophy finals.
Gemmell and Hathway played during the Harvard-Trinity match at the end of January. Gemmell won that match in 3: 11-6, 11-6, 11-7.
The Harvard and Princeton men played at the end of the regular season and during the first round of the National Team Championships. West won over Harrity both times; the first time he won 3-1, and the second time he won 3-2.
In the women’s Holleran Cup (“B” Division), Katherine O’Donnell of Harvard and Annie Madeira of Penn will play in one semifinal Sunday morning and Bethan Williams of Harvard and JoAnn Jee of Trinity will play in the other.
In the men’s Molloy Cup (“B” Division) semifinals, Yale’s C.J. Plimpton and Penn’s Danny Greenberg will square off in one match and Princeton’s David Pena and Harvard’s Jason Michas will play in the other.
