Hanover, NH — The finals for the Ramsay Cup and Pool Trophy are set, as are all the B division finals. Reeham Sedky (Penn) and Georgina Kennedy (Harvard) will play for the Ramsay Cup, and Osama Khalifa (Columbia) and Mario Yanez (Rochester) will play for the Pool Trophy.
Ramsay Cup (Women’s A Division): Every player in the Ramsay Cup semifinals had competed in the Howe Cup team final a week before, with Kayley Leonard and Georgina Kennedy representing champion Harvard, and Reeham Sedky and Marie Stephan playing for runner-up Penn. Last week, Leonard and Stephan dueled through a grueling five-game match; this week, they faced new opponents: Leonard played top-seeded Sedky, and Stephan played Kennedy, the number 2 seed.
Sedky, the runner-up in last year’s Ramsay Cup final, was down 8-10 in the first game against Leonard and came back to win the game. She went on to win the next two games in a physical, let- and stroke-filled contest. The second semifinal was much calmer in comparison. Kennedy won in three games, using a lot of boasts and hustle to win the final game.
Sedky and Kennedy will play for the Ramsay Cup at 1:30 pm tomorrow.
Women’s B Division:
North: Margaux Losty (Cornell) and Alex Toth (Princeton) will play in the B North final. Losty defeated Luca Polgar (Bates) in four, and Toth won over Jacqueline Barnes (Dartmouth), who retired in the third.
South: Alyssa Mehta of Harvard, who clinched the Crimson’s national title last weekend, won her semifinal match against Gabriella Garr (Princeton) in three games. Zandra Ho of Stanford, who won her draw last year, reached her second consecutive B division final with a four-game win over Jennifer Haley (Trinity).
East: Trinity’s Lakeesha Rarere and Columbia’s Madlen O’Connor advanced to the Holleran East final. Both players won their semifinals in four games: Rarere defeated Quincy Beck (Brown), and O’Connor defeated Sam Chai (Princeton).
West: Ryan Morgan (Drexel) won 13-11 in the fourth to advance to the final with a win over Morgan Steelman (Princeton). Colette Sultana (Columbia) won in three over Sarah Bell (Stanford).
Pool Trophy (Men’s A Division): Mario Yanez of Rochester was the only 2016 individual semifinalist still standing after the quarterfinals, but he was hardly the only player with experience deep into the Pool Trophy draw. In the 2015 tournament, Osama Khalifa of Columbia reached the finals, and Ahmed Bayoumy of St. Lawrence won the consolation final after falling in the first round. Trinity’s Thoboki Mohohlo, a first-year player, was the lone newcomer to Pool Trophy play.
In the first semifinal, Khalifa started conservative, while Mohohlo played aggressively, as if he had nothing to lose. Khalifa won the first and third games, while Mohohlo won the second. The dramatic fourth game saw play stoppage due to blood, broken strings, and extra points. Khalifa won the game 13-11 to earn a spot in his second Pool Trophy final. Yanez and Bayoumy played a competitive four-setter. Yanez jumped up to a 2-0 lead in games. In the third game, Bayoumy struck Yanez, breaking his eye-guards. Yanez borrowed a teammate’s equipment, but Bayoumy took the game. In the fourth, Bayoumy experienced both a nose bleed and cramping, and after much discussion, play resumed, and Yanez won the match.
Khalifa and Yanez will play for the Pool Trophy at 12:30 pm tomorrow.
Men’s B Division:
North: Lawrence Kuhn (Rochester) defeated Michael Thompson (Drexel) in three games to advance to the final. Kuhn will play Yale’s Spencer Lovejoy, who won in four over Carson Spahr (Dartmouth).
South: Moustafa Bayoumy (St. Lawrence) advanced to the final with a four-game win over Andy Muran (Cornell). Jamie Oakley (George Washington) won 11-9 in the fifth over Gabriel Morgan (Princeton) to secure his spot in the final.
East: It took extra points, but Trinity’s Affeeq Ismail won 13-11 in the fifth to win his semifinal over Harry Freeman (Cornell). Ricardo Lopez (Rochester) defeated Shehab Thabet (Princeton) in three games in the other East semifinal.
West: Tomotaka Endo of Rochester, who won his B draw last year, advanced to another final with a three-game win over Omar Alluadin (Trinity). Belal Nawar (St. Lawrence) made it an all-Liberty League final by defeating Oisin Logan (George Washington) in four.
