Amherst, MA — It’s been a busy first day at the 2012 Individual Championships, which are being hosted by Amherst College.
Ramsay Cup (Women’s A Division): There were several upsets in the first two rounds of Ramsay Cup play. In the round of 32, Penn’s Pia Trikha, who was ranked 18th coming into the tournament, defeated Trinity’s Ashley Tidman, who was ranked a spot ahead. Twentieth-ranked Nessrine Ariffin of Bates defeated 14th-ranked Nicole Bunyan of Princeton in four close games. Haley Mendez of Harvard, ranked 19th, defeated 15th-ranked Jaime Laird of Cornell. The round of 16 nearly saw a five-game upset when 9th-ranked Rachael Goh of Penn made Princeton’s Libby Eyre, ranked 8th, go the distance; Eyre won 11-9 in the fifth to advance to the quarters. Ariffin almost pulled off an even bigger upset of her own, taking third-seeded Laura Gemmell to five. Ariffin won the first and third games in tie-breakers but ultimately fell to Gemmell in five. The tournament’s second seed, defending individual champion Millie Tomlinson of Yale, had a scare in the round of 16 courtesy of Harvard’s Mendez. Mendez won the first and fourth games, but Tomlinson prevailed 11-6 in the fifth. Stanford’s Pamela Chua succeeded in defeating Cornell’s Danielle Letourneau, who was ranked 6th to Chua’s 11th.
Two of the biggest upsets of the day, however, came from one player: Harvard senior Cece Cortes, who clinched the Crimson’s team championship less than a week ago. Cortes, who was ranked 21st coming into the tournament, knocked off 13th-ranked Alicia Rodriguez Acosta of Trinity in the first round and another Bantam, fourth-ranked Catalina Pelaez, in the second.
The match-ups for tomorrow’s quarterfinals will be top-seeded Amanda Sobhy (Harvard) versus Eyre; Julie Cerullo (Princeton) versus Cortes; Gemmell versus Chua; and Kimberley Hay (Yale) versus Tomlinson.
Pool Trophy (Men’s B Division): By the time the first round was over, it was clear this year’s tournament would be taking a different shape than last year’s. Princeton senior Kelly Shannon, winner of the deciding match in the Tigers’ 5-4 victory over Trinity in the Men’s National Team Championship final two weeks ago, upset last year’s finalist, Nick Sachvie of Cornell, in three games. Shannon’s teammate Sammy Kang knocked out Chris Hanson of Dartmouth in a punishing five-gamer, and Rochester’s Joe Chapman defeated Princeton’s Chris Callis in five as well. Other five-game wins in the first round came from Miled Zarazua of Trinity over Thomas Spettigue of Cornell, Richard Dodd of Yale over Thomas Mattsson of Penn, and Andres Duany of Rochester over John Roberts of Yale. A number of first-round matches were decided in four games: Antonio Diaz (Trinity) defeated Nicholas Hopcroft (Harvard); Skillman Award-winner Beni Fischer (Rochester) defeated Gary Power (Harvard); Gui de Melo (F&M) defeated Johan Detter (Trinity); and Kenny Chan (Yale) defeated Alex Domenick (Cornell).
With so many matches going past three games, play went on late into the evening. By the time the dust had settled, Shannon had upset Fischer in four to advance to the quarters, and Diaz had outlasted Chapman in five to advance as well. Chan took a game off of second-seeded Ramit Tandon of Columbia, who advanced with a four-game win, and Princeton’s Tyler Osborne took teammate and defending individual champion Todd Harrity to four as well, with Harrity coming away with the win. The tournament’s top seed, Ali Farag of Harvard, advanced with a 3-love win over teammate Brandon McLaughlin. The quarterfinals, which will be held early tomorrow afternoon, will feature the following match-ups: Farag versus Diaz, Kang versus Malhotra, Tandon versus Duany, and Shannon versus Harrity.
Holleran Cup (Women’s B Division): Matches in the rounds of 64 and 32 were played today, while the round of 16 and the quarterfinals will be held tomorrow. The semifinals and final will be on Sunday. The match-ups for tomorrow morning’s round of 16 will be Samantha Matos (Bates) versus Alex Lunt (Princeton); Elena Laird (Middlebury) versus Chanel Erasmus (Trinity); Shihui Mao (Yale) versus Becky Lau (Dartmouth); Abby Jenkins (Middlebury) versus Steph Vogel (Penn); Robyn Hodgson (Trinity) versus Alli Rubin (Williams); Casey Cortes (Princeton) versus Katie Quan (Columbia); Courtney Bogle (Williams) versus Issey Norman-Ross (Yale); and Shara Robertson (Mount Holyoke) versus Torey Lee (Bowdoin). Jenkins advanced with a five-game win over Laura Henry of Williams. Lunt, Erasmus, Quan, and Robertson all advanced with four-game wins.
Molloy Cup (Men’s B Division): Like the Holleran Cup, the Molloy Cup featured the rounds of 64 and 32 today, and the round of 32 in particular had a number of five-game matches. Playing in tomorrow’s round of 16 will be Kevin Chen (Williams) versus Matthew Mackin (Trinity); Blake Reinson (Brown) versus Luke Lee (Dartmouth); Vishrab Kotian (Trinity) versus Moustafa Hamada (Trinity); Matt Domenick (Rochester) versus Kyle Ogilvy (St. Lawrence); Omar Sobhy (George Washington) versus Mohamed Abdel Maksoud (Rochester); William Morris (Williams) versus Neil Martin (Yale); Danny Greenberg (Penn) versus Andrew McGuinness (Navy); and Chris Jung (Dartmouth) versus Clay Blackiston (Princeton). Chen won in five over Middlebury’s Valentin Quan, as did Abdel Maksoud over Trinity’s Juan Flores, McGuinness over Yale’s Robert Berner, and Blackiston over Wesleyan’s John Steele. Mackin, Lee, Ogilvy, Sobhy, Morris, Martin, and Greenberg all won in four in the round of 32.
