HomeArticlesCSA Men's Team National Championships: Semifinals

CSA Men’s Team National Championships: Semifinals

Four of the newest members of the College Squash Hall of Fame (left to right): David Talbott, Michelle Quibell, Daniel Ezra, and Palmer Page. (photo credit: Michael T. Bello)

Teams at the CSA Men’s Team National Championships played semifinal matches across seven divisions on Saturday.  All division finals will be played at Yale University tomorrow, beginning at 8:30 a.m.

Before the Potter Division semifinals on Saturday, the CSA also celebrated the induction of four members of the College Squash Hall of Fame Class of 2019 – Palmer Page, Daniel Ezra, Michelle Quibell, and David Talbott.

Follow full results and play throughout the weekend at the Tournament Page, including live streaming and live scores through Club Locker.

Potter Division

In the top match of the day, Trinity and Rochester met in one of the Potter Division semifinals, producing one of the most entertaining matches of the year.  Once again, it was Tom De Mulder at No. 3 who captured a key early victory to give Trinity an early 2-1 lead after the first wave of matches. Rochester stormed back with two wins during the second wave, but a quick win at No. 7 by Trinity’s Andrew Lee brought the match score to 4-3.

In battle of two of college squash’s best players, Rochester’s Ashley Davies outlasted Kush Kumar of Trinity in three tight games to tie the team score at 4. With everyone’s attention now on the Number 4 match between Ziad Sakr of Trinity and Lawrence Kuhn of Rochester, the drama was at its height. Of course, extra points were needed, with Sakr catching the nick on his third match ball to clinch the victory for Trinity.

Comparatively speaking, the other Potter semifinals were mundane affairs.  Harvard showed it strength and depth with a commanding 8-1 win over 4-seed Penn.  Penn’s top player, Andrew Douglas, captured the lone point for the Quakers with a thrilling 5-set win over Harvard’s Victor Crouin. In the consolation bracket, Yale and Columbia captured identical 7-2 victories over Dartmouth and Princeton, respectively.

This will be the third year in a row that Harvard and Trinity will meet in the National Championship finals, where Harvard will be eager to unseat the defending champions.

Hoehn Division

Just as they have been all season, the Hoehn Division matches were as unpredictable as ever. The 2nd- and 4th-seeds had already been knocked out of the championship bracket on Friday, but there was still room for two more upsets. Top seed Virginia has lived on the edge virtually all season with about half of their wins coming by 5-4 scores. The grind of those types of matches finally caught up to them, with Drexel being the team to knock Virginia from its perch. With the score 4-4, Drexel’s Luke Willemse outlasted Virginia’s Toby Hansford in four games.

The other team that has been coming on strong late in the season is George Washington, and they showed that they have peaked at the right time with a strong 7-2 win over 3-seed St. Lawrence.  GW built a 4-2 lead on the strength of its depth in the bottom half of its lineup, and the Colonials’ No. 2 Mohammed Al-Terki closed the door on St. Lawrence’s Karim Ibrahim for the clinching point.  GW will be eager to repeat its result against Drexel from just last weekend when they were victorious 8-1.

Summers Division

Upsets got everyone started early in the day as well during the Summers Division semifinals.  The top two seeds, Williams and Middlebury, had captured victories over their opponents MIT and Brown during the regular season, but the 4- and 3-seeds were able to flip the script with championship finals berths on the line.  MIT started out very strong, winning two out of the three matches in the first two waves. Those results seemed to crack the Williams resolve, and the Engineers won the match going away.

Brown and Middlebury had a tight 5-4 battle during the season, but this time, it would be Brown emerging from a well-fought contest victorious.  Again, a 2-out-of-3 start in the first two waves was the confidence boost that the underdogs needed in an effort to reach the finals. Middlebury’s Nicholas Bermingham postponed the inevitable with a gritty 15-13 fifth game win, but Brown went 2-1 again in the last wave to set up the finals match-up with MIT on Sunday.  These two did not meet during the regular season.

Conroy Division

Unlike the first three divisions, the Conroy Division has stayed relatively true to its seeding, with the top two seeds, Dickinson and Colby, readying for Sunday’s final.  In the top-half semifinal, Conn College ended up being no match for Dickinson’s experience and strength.  The Red Devils won 9-0 with only one match proceeding past the minimum three games.

Colby showed similar strength of depth against the 3-seed Hobart, winning the lower seven matches on the ladder by 3-0 scores.  Hobart’s top two players, senior Josh Oakley and freshman Mohamed Abdelhafez, scored the lone points for their team in four-game wins.

Chaffee Division

The classic Boston vs. New York rivalry will extend all the way to college squash’s Chaffee Division on Sunday, with Northeastern and Fordham set to meet in the final. Northeastern, the 5-seed, already had one 5-4 upset victory under their belts, and they added another one on Saturday against top-seed Cal-Berkeley. In a classic battle of strength at the top versus depth of the squad, Northeastern’s top five players earned the critical five points to secure the win.

Second-seed Fordham, having reaffirmed one regular season result already against NYU on Friday, returned to the courts to take on 3-seed Hamilton in another rematch from the regular season. Once again, Fordham’s depth was no match for Hamilton’s inexperienced squad and captured a manageable 6-3 win, along with its second straight Chaffee finals berth.

Serues Division

The Serues Division semifinals are the place where budding club teams show how far they have come and build momentum for seasons to come. In the 1-vs-4 match-up, underdog Boston College showed that you build a program from the bottom up, beating Washington University in St. Louis, 6-3, including victories in the lower five positions in the order.

The University of Richmond has come a long way in a short amount of time, and that progress was on display today against Denison. In their 7-2 victory, Richmond exhibited great skill up and down the lineup, ultimately clinching the finals berth with wins at positions three through nine.

Hawthorn Division

In what would be a classic Patriot League battle in any other sport, Lehigh and Colgate will meet in the Hawthorn Division final on Sunday. Lehigh handled the challenge from the last Midwest team in the championship bracket, Notre Dame, by a 7-2 score. New York State rivals Colgate and Vassar met for the third time this season on Saturday, and Colgate earned its third win in as many tries, 6-3.

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