HomeArticles2022 CSA Individual Championships: Top Two Seeds Advance to Each Sunday Final

2022 CSA Individual Championships: Top Two Seeds Advance to Each Sunday Final

Semifinals day at the 2022 CSA National Collegiate Individual Championships featured enthralling matchups and an incredibly high quality of squash throughout the day. The top two seeds in each of the national championship divisions representing four different schools have advanced to Sunday’s finals at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center.

Princeton’s Youssef Ibrahim (front) vs. Penn’s Aly Abou El Einen (back) (photo by Michael T. Bello)

The first semifinal got things started with a bang, as the men’s top seed Youssef Ibrahim of Princeton faced off against Penn’s Aly Abou El Einen, the Pool Trophy runner-up from 2020 and 5-seed in this event. Both players took their time working themselves into the match with long points and neither player taking a large lead. The long points played primarily to the back corners suited Abou El Einen just fine, and he managed to edge ahead at the right time to capture the first game in extra points, 12-10.

Not eager to allow his opponent to gain significant momentum, Ibrahim came out firing in the second game. He seemed to push the pace and to start taking the ball short, using a more attacking style that has paid dividends in recent matches. The tactic worked well, and Ibrahim was able to ease ahead of Abou El Einen to level the match at one game apiece. With the tide sufficiently turned and the tactics working well, Ibrahim worked to close out the match, winning a comfortable third game, 11-2, and a tight fourth game, 11-9, to clinch the finals berth.

Ibrahim’s opponent on Sunday will be second-seeded Victor Crouin of Harvard, who methodically wore down his familiar opponent, 3-seed Andrew Douglas of Penn. Like the first men’s semifinal, the Crouin-Douglas affair was nip-and-tuck throughout the first game. The scores were close throughout until Crouin won two points in a row at the right time to win the first game 11-9.

Penn’s Andrew Douglas (right) vs. Harvard’s Victor Crouin (left) (photo by Michael T. Bello)

Crouin jumped out to an early lead in game two and rode that advantage to a quick 11-1 win, with Douglas choosing to live to fight another game. Like the first game, the play in Game 3 was close and clean throughout, but Crouin’s limited match time on court on Friday started to play to his advantage. He leaned in to the longer points, and balls started to fall just out of Douglas’s reach. In the end, the hole was too deep for Douglas to overcome, and Crouin earned a 3-0 semifinal win.

The Ramsay Cup semifinals for the women ended up being a mirror image of the men’s semis with both top seeds moving on after tough but convincing victories. Cornell’s Sivasangari Subramaniam and Harvard’s Hana Moataz will meet again after splitting their previous two CSA meetings. Subramaniam won earlier this season, but Moataz has the last tournament win, taking down her Cornell opponent in the 2020 Ramsay Cup semifinal.

Cornell’s Sivasangari Subramaniam (front) vs. Harvard’s Marina Stefanoni (back) (photo by Michael T. Bello)

Subramaniam took on Moataz’s teammate, Harvard sophomore Marina Stefanoni, in the first semifinal, and she used her experience to jump out to an early lead. In the fairly comfortable first game, Subramaniam appeared to be in control and ready to sweep her opponent in three games. Stefanoni would not make it so easy, however, showing impressive skill of her own and battling point-for-point with the favorite. Despite pushing things to extra points, Stefanoni fell into an 0-2 hole after a close 12-10 game two loss. Game three was another tight affair, but Subramaniam’s skill and experience proved to be too much as she went on to complete the match in three games.

The last semifinal on court featured the 2-versus-3 matchup of Moataz against Trinity’s rookie sensation Malak Ashraf Kamal. Moataz jumped out to a 1-0 lead after taking the critical first game 11-8, but Kamal was not to be deterred. She took the game to Moataz in the second, using her athleticism and deception in the front court to prevent her opponent from gaining a further advantage.

Harvard’s Hana Moataz (front) vs. Trinity’s Malak Ashraf Kamal (back) (photo by Michael T. Bello)

Moataz regrouped coming into the third game, and despite several pushes from Kamal, Moataz kept her at bay to win the third, 11-9, and take a 2-1 lead. In the end, the Crimson woman proved to be too much for Kamal, who may have been feeling the effects of two matches yesterday, including a five-gamer yesterday evening. The final game went 11-7 to Moataz and with it, the chance at the Ramsay Cup national championship title.

While Moataz and Crouin are already on the list of national championship finalists representing Harvard, Subramaniam gets her second chance at becoming the first Ramsay Cup champion in Cornell history. Ibrahim is the first Princeton finalist since Todd Harrity reached this stage in 2013.

The players competing for Second Team All-America status during tomorrow’s Holleran and Molloy Division finals are as follows:

Holleran North: No. 1 Si Ma (Stanford University) vs. No. 2 Christy Tin Yan Lau (Yale University)
Holleran South: No. 1 Habeeba Eldefrawy (Harvard University) vs. No. 3 Noa Romero Blazquez (Drexel University)
Holleran East: No. 2 Sarahi Lopez Dominguez (Trinity College) vs. No. 8 Molly Chadwick (Princeton University)
Holleran West: No. 2 Emma Supattapone (Dartmouth College) vs. Brooke Herring (Drexel University)
Molloy North: No. 1 Cesar Segundo Corona (University of Rochester) vs. Haris Qasim (Drexel University)
Molloy South: No. 1 Callan Hall (Columbia University) vs. No. 3 Siow Yee Xian (Yale University)
Molloy East: No. 1 Abdelrahman Nassar (Trinity College) vs. No. 3 Karim Elbarbary (Princeton University)
Molloy West: No. 3 Nicholas Spizzirri (University of Pennsylvania) vs. No. 5 Nathan Tze Bing Kueh (University of Pennsylvania)

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