Princeton, NJ — Amanda Sobhy (Harvard) and Kanzy El Defrawy will play for the Ramsay Cup tomorrow, and Ahmed Abdel Khalek (Bates) and Osama Khalifa (Columbia) will play for the Pool Trophy. The semifinals of the men’s and women’s B Divisions are also set.
Ramsay Cup (Women’s A Division): The 2015 Ramsay Cup final will be a rematch of the 2014 final as well as the 2013 final. Amanda Sobhy of Harvard and Kanzy El Defrawy of Trinity, the national individual champion and finalist, respectively, for the past two years, will meet again tomorrow. In the semifinals, Sobhy defeated Princeton first-year player Olivia Fiechter in three games 11-9, 11-2, 11-3. El Defrawy faced another Princeton player, senior Nicole Bunyan, who went on a fantastic run in her final intercollegiate tournament. Ranked 11th coming into the Ramsay Cup, Bunyan upset 6th-ranked Yan Xin Tan of Penn in the Round of 16. She followed that performance with an epic five-game win over third-ranked Danielle Letourneau of Cornell: 11-9, 10-12, 11-9, 17-19, 12-10. Reaching the semifinals gave Bunyan her best-ever finish at Individuals, but there was no getting past El Defrawy. The Trinity junior held Bunyan to just nine points overall, winning 11-3, 11-4, 11-2. El Defrawy will have her work cut out for her tomorrow, as Sobhy has been undefeated in four years of intercollegiate play. But of all the players who Sobhy has faced on the college stage, El Defrawy has come the closest to unseating her. She’ll have one last chance when the final starts at 1 pm tomorrow.
Holleran Cup (Women’s B Division): Two weeks ago, Trinity teammates Natalie Babjukova and Sachika Balvani were competing together for a national team title. Tomorrow they’ll face each other in the Holleran Cup semifinals. Babjukova came from behind to defeat Alison Richmond of Penn in five games: 9-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-3, 11-5. Balvani won by default over teammate Karolina Holinkova. The other semifinal will feature Alexandra Toth of Princeton and Georgia Blatchford of Yale. After losing a close first game against Annie Ballaine of Yale, Toth regrouped to win the match in four. Blatchford also won in four against Salma El Defrawy of Trinity.
Pool Trophy (Men’s A Division): Whatever the outcome of tomorrow’s Pool Trophy final, one school will be celebrating its first men’s individual national title. Ahmed Abdel Khalek of Bates and Osama Khalifa of Columbia will meet in the final; neither Bates nor Columbia has ever had a men’s individual national champion. Abdel Khalek advanced to the first Pool Trophy final of his intercollegiate career with a convincing three-game win over Ryosei Kobayashi of Rochester. The score was 11-2, 11-4, 11-3. Khalifa, whose brother won the individual title two years ago, reached the final on his first try. In the semifinals, he faced fellow first-year player David Ryan of Harvard. Ranked 23rd coming into the tournament, Ryan had pulled off a string of upsets to reach the semifinals, taking down Neil Cordell (Rochester), Marwan Mahmoud (Penn), and Aditya Japtap (Cornell). Khalifa stopped Ryan’s run short of the final, winning in three games: 11-7, 11-8, 11-8. Abdel Khalek and Khalifa have not yet faced each other in intercollegiate play. The men’s final is scheduled for 11:45 am tomorrow..
Molloy Cup (Men’s B Division): In tomorrow’s semifinals, Jamie Ruggiero of Williams will play Affeeq Ismail of Trinity, and Andrew McGuinness of Navy will face Ibrahim Bakir of Drexel. Ruggiero advanced with a three-game win over Yale’s Joseph Roberts. Ismail also won in three, defeating Matt Roberts of Harvard. McGuinness played the closest match of the quarterfinals, coming from behind to defeat Noah Browne of Amherst in four games. The game scores were 9-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-8. Bakir advanced in three games over Kevin Chen of Williams.
