The College Squash Association (CSA) hosted its virtual awards show – The Senior Serve – on Tuesday evening honoring the CSA’s main senior award recipients.
The CSA bestowed the Ann Wetzel Award, Skillman Award, and Betty Richey Award after opening the show with an interview with Ukrainian student-athletes Alina Bushma (Drexel University) and Nadiia Usenko (Trinity College).
The Wetzel Award, given annually to the top senior women’s player who learned to play squash in college without any prior experience, went to Nicole Pihlstrom of Vassar College. Pihlstrom applied her seasoned tennis and Tae Kwon Do experience to a squash career in college, working her way to No. 3 on her team’s ladder and a berth on the All-Liberty League team in 2022. Pihlstrom’s selection was the second in a row for Vassar College after teammate Isabel Bronson earned the Wetzel Award last season.
Harvard University’s Victor Crouin was this year’s selection for the Skillman Award, the CSA’s Sportsman of the Year. The two-time Pool Trophy national champion was voted as the recipient by the CSA coaches after an impressive career highlighted by three team national championships, two individual titles, CSA Scholar Athlete Awards, and a high level of sportsmanship, integrity, and engagement. Crouin was the top selection of an impressive senior class, including the other finalists Aly Abou Eleinen of University of Pennsylvania and Youssef Ibrahim of Princeton University.
Harvard also earned the women’s version of the award, the Betty Richey Award, with senior Hana Moataz taking home top honors. Moataz, a two-time individual national finalist and three-time team national champion, was chosen by the CSA coaches out of the finalist group also including Mount Holyoke College’s Mihiliya Kalahe and University of Virginia’s Emma Jinks. After playing behind Harvard’s previous Betty Richey Award recipient, Gina Kennedy, at the beginning of her career, Moataz took on an increased leadership role for her team over the last two seasons, coming into her own as a top player and sportswoman.
For the second season in a row, the CSA celebrated these honorees in a virtual, livestreamed format. For more information about this year’s award recipients and the other finalists, please review our finalist announcements posted previously – Skillman Award and Betty Richey Award.
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CSA must continue to raise revenue in order to maintain operations, effectively tell its story, and expand its resources and programming in areas like mental health awareness, diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, and awards recognition. If supporters feel so inclined, they can donate directly to CSA via this giving link or contact CSA at admin@csasquash.com to inquire about other options of support.
