Harvard players captured three of four semifinal slots in both the women’s and men’s top division at the 2018 individual nationals, a rare feat that required several major upsets in the first day of competition.
In the Ramsay Cup draw—the women’s national championship—third and fourth seeds Georgina Kennedy and Sabrina Sobhy of Harvard each fulfilled their seeding by advancing to the semifinals. Sobhy will now face long-time rival and fellow Team USA member Reeham Sedky of Penn, who will look to maintain her undefeated 2017-2018 season record and third consecutive berth in the final. Kennedy—the 2017 individual champion—will face Harvard teammate Amelia Henley after Henley upset No. 2 seed Olivia Fiechter from Princeton and Yale’s Lucy Beecroft on Friday.
In the Pool Division, which determines the men’s national champion, the top half played to seed. Top seed Kush Kumar of Trinity snuck through a difficult quarterfinal against Columbia’s Velavan Senthilkumar to reach his first individual semifinal, while fourth seed Saad Abouaish of Harvard advanced in businesslike fashion. The bottom half of the draw brought the upsets as two more Harvard players also made the semifinals. Timmy Brownell upset seven seed Ashley Davies of Rochester and then second-seeded Youssef Ibrahim of Princeton in the quarterfinals, and David Ryan upset three seed Andrew Douglas of Penn and six seed Alvin Heumann of Dartmouth.
Semifinal play begins at 4:30 Saturday – follow all scores live on Club Locker and streaming at https://csasquash.com/individualnationals2018/.
