Stamford, CT — After play this afternoon and evening, the match-ups for tomorrow’s finals have been set.
Ramsay Cup (Women’s A Division): Trinity senior Kanzy El Defrawy will play Penn first-year player Reeham Sedky for the Ramsay Cup tomorrow.
El Defrawy, who has reached the final in all four of her years at Trinity, faced Harvard’s Kayley Leonard in the semifinals. El Defrawy won the first game 11-8. The second game was incredibly close: it went to extra points and then kept going. The final game score was 16-14, and El Defrawy was again the victor. The third and final game was El Defrawy’s, as she won 11-5.
Sedky, seeded third coming into the tournament, played Laila Samy of Wesleyan in the semifinals. Samy had upset the number 2 seed in the draw, Harvard’s Sabrina Sobhy, in the quarterfinals; she had also upset Princeton’s Maria Elena Ubina in the Round of 16. She couldn’t put together a third upset, as Sedky won in three decisive games: 11-4, 11-3, 11-5.
El Defrawy and Sedky last competed during the Trinity-Penn regular season match in late January. They played two games before Sedky retired, giving El Defrawy the win: each game was decided 11-9, with Sedky winning the first and El Defrawy winning the second.
The Ramsay Cup final is scheduled for tomorrow at 12:30 PM.
Women’s B Division: At stake in tomorrow’s finals will be spots on the All-American Team.
In the A draw final, Haidi Lala of Penn will play Zandra Ho of Stanford. Lala defeated Stanford’s Tara Shannon in three 11-9 games. Ho defeated Cornell’s Rachel Scherman in three games as well.
The B draw final will see Jennifer Haley of Trinity take on Madlen O’Connor of Columbia. Haley won her semifinal match-up against Samantha Chai of Princeton in three games. O’Connor defeated Sarah Bell of Stanford in four games.
The C draw final will feature Tanvi Khanna of Columbia versus Kristyna Alexova of Bates. Khanna defeated Franklin & Marshall’s Fiona Murphy in three games in the semifinals. Alexova upset Shiyuan Mao of Yale by a score of 3-1.
The D draw final will be contested by Breanne Flynn of George Washington and Anna Kimberley of Trinity. Flynn reached the final with a four-game win over Dileas MacGowan (Harvard) in the quarterfinals and a come-from-behind five-game win against Michelle Wong (Penn) in the semifinals. Kimberley’s path to the final featured wins over two Princeton players: she defeated Kira Keating 3-0 in the quarterfinals and Alexandra Toth 3-1 in the semifinals.
Pool Trophy (Men’s A Division): Bates senior Ahmed Abdel Khalek will defend his title individual against Rochester junior Ryosei Kobayashi.
In the semifinals, Abdel Khalek faced Trinity’s Rick Penders, who won the first game 11-5. Abdel Khalek came back with a vengeance, winning the second game 11-2 and not looking back. Though Penders got closer in the next two games, Abdel Khalek was determined to return to the finals, winning games three and four: 11-5, 11-7.
Rochester teammates Kobayashi and Mario Yanez met in the other semifinal. Both juniors, the two have traded spots at the top of the Rochester line-up throughout their collegiate careers. Today’s match was competitive, but Kobayashi retained the edge throughout. He won in three games: 11-7, 11-8, 11-8.
Bates and Rochester didn’t play this season, but Abdel Khalek and Kobayashi did meet in last year’s Pool Trophy semifinals. Abdel Khalek won that match in three games.
The Pool Trophy final is scheduled for Sunday at 1:30 PM.
Men’s B Division: The finalists in the B Division will be competing for All-American status.
The A draw final will be played between Kah Wah Cheong of Yale and Afeeq Ismail of Trinity. Cheong defeated Bransten Ming (Drexel) in three games in their semifinal match. Ismail upset number two seed Mahmoud Abdel-Maksoud (George Washington) in five games in the quarterfinals. He followed that victory with a four-game upset over Harry Freeman (Cornell) in the semifinals.
In the B draw, Lenard Puski of St. Lawrence will play Gustav Runersjo of Cornell in the final. Puski advanced to the final with a three-game win over Omar Allaudin (Trinity) in the quarters and a five-game win over Karim Tarek (Penn) in the semis. Runersjo upset two Yale players en route to the final: he knocked off Zachary Leman in five games in the quarterfinals, and he defeated Sam Fenwick in three in the semis.
The C draw final will see Tomotaka Endo of Rochester take on Atticus Kelly of Drexel. Endo defeated Michael Thompson (Drexel) 3-1 in the quarterfinals, and he beat Jamie Ruggiero (Williams) 3-0 in the semifinals. Kelly swept James Kelly of Penn in three games in the quarters and then prevailed in a five-game duel with teammate Ibrahim Bakir to claim his spot in the final.
Tomorrow’s D draw final will feature Tom De Mulder of Trinity versus Hayes Murphy of Penn. De Mulder advanced thanks to a four-game win over Mason Blake (Virginia) in the quarterfinals and a five-game win against Sean Kelly (Franklin & Marshall) in the semifinals. Murphy won both his matches today in four games: he beat Drexel’s Luke Willemse in the quarterfinals and followed that by beating Cole Osborne (Franklin & Marshall) in the semifinals.
