Titles were awarded across five divisions Sunday in the final day of the College Women’s Team Nationals at Harvard University and MIT. The Harvard women’s team captured the Women’s National Team Championship—the Howe Cup—in spectacular fashion with a 9-0 finals win over Trinity.

Full results are available at www.csasquash.com/womensnationals2018.

Howe Cup

Harvard University entered the Howe Cup undefeated in 50 matches and having won three consecutive titles. When play was completed, the team had surpassed even the exceptionally high expectations placed on it, defeating each opponent in the tournament 9-0 and dropping only six individual games in the process. The championship brings Harvard its 18^th Howe Cup—a college record surpassing Princeton’s 17.

In the first round of matches—positions 3, 6 and 9—Julia Le Coq of Trinity fell Kayley Leonard in a tight match at No. 3 with Leonard pulling out a 3-1 win with a 13-11 fourth game. Harvard No. 9 Hannah Craig and No. 6 Sue Ann Yong each won in three games to complete the first-round sweep.

The second round saw Harvard consolidate the lead with four game wins by No. 8 Sophie Mehta over Akanksha Salunkhe and No. 5 Amelia Henley over Vanessa Raj.

In the final set of matches, Harvard completed the 9-0 feat with wins a sharp performance by 2017 college individual champion Georgina Kennedy over Richey Award finalist Raneem Sharaf at the No. 1 position.

The numbers speak for themselves; the win brings Harvard’s streak to 53 consecutive matches, and caps a season in which the Crimson only lost three individual matches in 15 total contests. This Harvard team will go down as one of the most dominant squads in college squash history.

Kurtz Cup

The Kurtz Cup final featured top seed Drexel against second-seeded Dartmouth. The teams contested the Kurtz final in both 2016 and 2017, with Dartmouth winning 5-4 in each of those encounters. The Drexel women turned the tide in 2018, capturing their first Kurtz Cup title.

Dartmouth battled through the lower half of the lineup, showcasing its ladder depth with gritty five-game wins at the 7, 8 and 9 positions. At No. 7 and 8, Ellie Gozigian and Emma Roberts of Dartmouth held off comebacks by Stephanie Ryan and Apoorva Addepalli, and Zainab Molani came back from 2-1 down against Emma Macgillivray of Drexel.

Drexel captured key matches in the middle two positions to push the momentum in its favor, with Fiona Power (No. 6) and Ona Prokes (No. 5) each winning in four games against Dartmouth’s Julia Potter and Janel Gaube, respectively. Drexel secured the title with their strength at the top, sweeping positions 1 through 4 with No. 1 Anna Hughes coming back from 2-0 down against Dartmouth’s Anne Blasberg.

Walker Cup

Top seeded Dickinson looked to take home its first Walker Cup as the team faced three seed Bates, the 2016 Walker Cup champion. Bates continued its surge through the second half of the season, however, upsetting Dickinson with a dominant 7-2 performance in the final.

Dickinson got its teeth into the match in the first round, with No. 9 Abbie Winger taking a four-game match over Cata Robert. Bates still gained a 2-1 overall lead after the first round, and then consolidated the team win going 3-0 in the second round of matches with wins by Katie Bull (No. 8), Maeve O’Brien (No. 5) and Luca Polgar (No. 2). The Bobcats then captured two of the final round matches to bring the final tally to 7-2.

Epps Cup

The most closely contested final of the day occurred in the Epps Cup, where William Smith upset top seeded Bowdoin 5-4.

Bowdoin found success in the opening three matches, with a win by Natasha Belsky at No. 6 and a very close five-game result for Lex Horwitz over Joana Pacheco of William Smith. The second round of matches swung the momentum back to William Smith, with Karina Lazaro winning at No. 8 and Madison Bradley executing a comeback from 2-0 down against Zoe Wood, evening the overall match score at 3-3 going into the final round.

Wins by William Smith’s Djeneba Ballo at No. 7 and Bowdoin’s Diya Chopra at No. 4 brought the team score to 4-4, with the No. 1 match still on court. William Smith’s Gabrielle Fraser fought off a strong challenge from Lindsey Bindra of Bowdoin to take the match in four games, clinching the third Epps Cup title for William Smith.

E Division

The E division final was a Boston showdown between top seed Boston College and three seed Northeastern. Both teams entered in sharp form, winning their respective semifinals 9-0. In the final, Northeastern proved to be too strong as it garnered the title 7-2.

Northeastern was led by five-game wins for Malia Bow (No. 8) and Maggie Markgraf (No. 6), as well as a win at No. 4 by Jessica Qiu over Grace Tregidgo that included an 18-16 game—the second longest of the tournament.

The E championship is the first for the Northeastern women’s team in any division.

The finalists have been set for all divisions in the 2018 College Women’s Team Nationals after a full day of competition at Harvard and MIT.

Follow full results and play throughout the weekend at www.csasquash.com/womensnationals2018 including live streaming and live scores through Club Locker.

Howe Cup

The Howe Cup semifinals featured rivalry matchups as No. 1 Harvard faced No. 5 Yale, and No. 2 Princeton took on No. 3 Trinity.

Harvard entered the semifinal as the heavy favorite, carrying a 52-match winning streak and dropping only three individual matches all season. The semifinal continued the team’s dominance, showcasing Harvard’s strength through all sections of the lineup. On the glass court—where the top three positions played—Harvard’s No. 3 Kayley Leonard lost only ten total points on her way to a victory over Celine Yeap. Sabrina Sobhy (No. 2) and Georgina Kennedy (No. 1) also looked sharp in three game wins over Helen Teegan and Lucy Beecroft, respectively.

Lower in the lineup, Harvard also controlled play, winning each match with 3-0 scorelines. In the final tally, Yale only pushed Harvard to 11-9 in one game across all nine matches—an exceptionally sharp performance by the top seeds. Harvard will look to carry that momentum into the national championship match Sunday on their home courts.

The regular season match between Princeton and Trinity resulted in a 5-4 win for the Tigers, though for today’s match the Bantams had No. 5 Vanessa Raj back in the lineup, who was injured during the regular season.

The first round of matches opened with a comfortable win for each team—Princeton’s Emme Leonard took the No. 6 match 3-0 and Trinity’s Julia Le Coq won 3-0 at No. 3. The No. 9 match between Karolina Holinkova of Trinity and Princeton’s Madison Soukup was much tighter, with Holinkova going up 2-1 based on 13-11 wins in the first and third games. After Soukup won the fourth game 11-1, Holinkova refocused and won the final game, giving Trinity a 2-1 lead.

Trinity rode this momentum into the second round of matches. No. 8 Akanksha Salunkhe won her match in three games, as did Vanessa Raj despite an injury timeout for a rolled ankle halfway through the match. This placed Trinity up 4-1 in the overall score, setting the team up to have No. 2 Salma Alam Eldin punch Trinity’s ticket to the final with a 3-1 victory over Raneem El Torky. Princeton won two matches in the third round, including a win in a matchup of Richey Award finalists between Princeton’s Olivia Fiechter and Trinity’s Raneem Sharaf, but it was too little too late as Trinity advanced to Sunday’s championship match 6-3.

Kurtz Cup

Drexel lived up to its top seeding in the semifinal by defeating Brown 7-2. The Dragons started quickly with three-game wins in the first round by Emma Macgillivray (No. 9), Fiona Power (No. 6), and Ryan Morgan (No. 3). The Brown women’s depth showed in the lower part of the lineup with Scarlett Bergam and Hannah Safford winning at the 7 and 8 positions, respectively. Drexel’s top half proved too much for Brown, however, as it swept the top six positions including the sister act of Anna and Hayley Hughes winning at No. 1 and No. 2.

Drexel will face its 2017 Walker Cup finals opponent in the 2018 final as Dartmouth put on a 9-0 performance in its semifinal against Williams. Dartmouth No. 3 Sandra Reiss, No. 6 Julia Potter and No. 9 Zainab Molani set the tone for the team, each winning in four games to build momentum early in the match. Dartmouth went on to win all other matches 3-0, except for the No. 4 position in which Brynn Bank came back from 2-0 down to beat Esther Baek of Williams in five games to cap off the final match of the evening.

Walker Cup

After a tight quarterfinal against Colby on Friday, Walker Cup top seed Dickinson advanced to the finals with a win over Wesleyan. Playing in the first round of matches at No. 3, Eloise Nimoityn of Dickinson captured her second five-game win in the tournament when she stopped a comeback by Wesleyan’s Ananya Vir. Dickinson No. 9 Abbie Wingerd also captured a tight win on the way to Dickinson going up 3-0 after the first round. After Dickinson swept the next round to go up 6-0, Wesleyan captured two of the final set of matches to bring the final score to 7-2.

In the bottom half of the draw, Bates continued its strong second half of the season with a 7-2 win over Tufts—a team the Bobcats had already beaten twice earlier in the year. Bates No. 6 Katherine Manternach and No. 3 Victoria Arjoon each won important early matches to put Bates up 2-1. Bates then swept each of the next three matches 3-0 to secure the overall team win, as well as a final round match at No. 1 where Kristyna Alexova came back from two games down against Julie Yeung of Tufts.

Epps Cup

Epps No. 1 seed Bowdoin continued its march through the draw 7-2 over Mount Holyoke, winning all top seven positions. Bowdoin competed well, finding a way to win all matches that went into extra games—No. 3 Lex Horwitz, No. 4 Diya Chopra, and No. 5 Zoe Wood each defeated their opponents 3-1.

Bowdoin will face two seed William Smith in the final after the Herons defeated Connecticut College 6-3 in the bottom half of the draw. Connecticut College got off to a strong start in the first round, with Conn No. 9 Noelle Giuliano winning in four games over Madeline Saiontz and No. 6 Allie Fuller coming back from 2-0 and match ball down against William Smith’s Anna Worcester to win in five games. In the second round of matches, William Smith regained the overall lead 4-2 on a sweep of matches including tight four-gamer between Madison Bradley of William Smith and Davis Lemay of Conn. No. 7 Djeneba Ballo then helped lock in the final 6-3 score with a five-game win over Conn’s Jacqueline Chu.

E Division

The E division completed both quarterfinal and semifinal rounds on Saturday, showcasing some of the country’s top club programs. The quarterfinals played to seed with Boston College and Colgate advancing on the top half of the draw, and Northeastern and Bucknell moving through on the bottom. Two seed Bucknell faced a stiff test from seven seed Boston University, winning 5-4.

In the semifinals, Boston College and Northeastern both securely advanced to the finals with 9-0 scorelines.

The Women’s College Team Nationals kicked off at Harvard University and MIT on Friday with action across five divisions.

Follow full results and play throughout the weekend at www.csasquash.com/womensnationals2018 including live streaming and live scores through Club Locker.

Howe Cup

In the Howe Cup, made up of the top eight teams in the country, Yale defeated Stanford 5-4 in a match that was the highlight of the day’s action. Stanford—ranked No. 4 to Yale’s 5—won 6-3 in their regular season match three weeks ago and had also topped the Bulldogs in the 2017 team nationals. In today’s match, Yale’s fortunes turned in a hotly contested second round of matches, all of which went to five games. In a matchup of sophomore No. 2’s, Yale’s Helen Teegan bested Chloe Chemtob, and in the No. 5 match Jocelyn Lehman beat Penn’s Caroline Neave—leaving the team score tied at 3-3 going into the third round of matches. Yale then captured the No. 1 and No. 7 matches to secure a semifinal berth.

No. 2 Princeton defeated Ivy League rival No. 7 Penn 6-3 in a the bottom half of the draw. Penn’s strength at the top of the lineup was evident as they took positions 1-3, including a dominant three game win by Penn No. 1 Reeham Sedky over Olivia Fiechter, extending Sedky’s record to 14-0 on the season. Princeton’s depth proved too much for a Penn team depleted by injury, however, winning the bottom six positions to advance to the semifinal.

No. 1 seed Harvard and No. 3 seed Trinity both cruised to 9-0 victories in their respective quarterfinals against Cornell and Columbia. The winning teams only dropped one individual game each on their way to the semifinals. The win is Harvard’s 51^st consecutive victory over a span of four seasons. They will face rival Yale in the semifinals, while Trinity will take on Princeton, to whom they narrowly lost 5-4 during the regular season.

Kurtz Cup

The top two seeds in the Kurtz Cup advanced in comfortable fashion. Top seeded Drexel defeated Amherst 8-0, dropping no individual games across the eight matches. Two seed Dartmouth topped Middlebury 8-1, aided by a hard-fought first round win at No. 3 by Sandra Reiss over Alexa Comai in five games.

The other two Kurtz Cup quarterfinals each went to the wire. Five seed Brown rode wins through the middle of its lineup to beat four seed George Washington 5-4, after the teams had not faced off in the regular season. With Brown needing to find two wins out of the final round of three matches, George Washington No. 1 Zoe Foo Yuk Han defeated Brown’s Qunicy Beck in five games, but Brown No. 4 Isabel Young and No. 7 Scarlett Bergam each captured victories to push the Bears through to the semifinals.

In an equally close match, sixth-seeded University of Virginia pushed third-seed Williams to the limit in the bottom half of the draw. Virginia led 4-2 after the first two rounds of matches, necessitating that Williams sweep the numbers 1, 4, and 7 matches to advance. Williams did so, including capturing a dramatic five-game battle at No. 4 between Esther Beck of Williams and Tara Arya of Virginia.

Walker Cup

Dickinson, the top seed in the Walker Cup, was pushed by eight seed Colby in match that was much tighter than the rankings would have predicted. In the first round of matches, Dickinson went up 3-0 with a close four game win at No. 6, and a comeback from 2-0 down by No. 3 Eloise Nimoityn over Julianna Song. In the second round, Dickinson again relied on a five-game comeback, as Domenica Romo salvaged the match from a 2-0 deficit against Madiha Molani. Colby captured its own five-game win at the top position, yet Dickinson won with an overall score of 6-3.

Dickinson will face the five seed Wesleyan women in the semifinal, who upset four seed Franklin & Marshall 5-4 in their quarterfinal. Franklin & Marshall jumped to a 2-1 overall lead after the first round of matches on the strength of four game wins at No. 3 and No. 6 by Andreina Benedith and Grace Smith. Wesleyan evened the overall score at 3-3 after the second round with a five-game win by Aditi Prasad over Lauren Johnston. In the final set of matches, Wesleyan rode a dominant performance by senior No. 1 Laila Samy over Sherilyn Yang to advance to the semifinal.

The results on the bottom half of the draw were somewhat more one-sided, as Bates took the top seven matches to defeat Hamilton 7-2, and two seed Tufts didn’t drop an individual game in its 9-0 win over St. Lawrence. Though the lower seed at No. 3, Bates has beaten Tufts in both of their regular season meetings, a trend that the Jumbos will look to reverse on Saturday.

Epps Cup

Epps top seed Bowdoin controlled play in a 9-0 win against Georgetown. The closest match saw Bowdoin No. 8 Hannah Cooke winning the fourth and fifth games 12-10 to best Megan Nilles. Bowdoin will face four seed Mount Holyoke in the semifinals, who defeated Vassar 6-3. Mount Holyoke’s Tanishka Sachidanand came back from 2-1 down at the No. 7 position against Emma Glickman to help secure the team win in the final round.

On the bottom half of the draw, Connecticut College defeated Haverford 6-3 on the strength of their team depth, winning the bottom six matches with only one of those going beyond three games in a match between Connecticut College’s Davis Lemay and Haverford’s Tia Brown.

No. 2 seed William Smith looked impressive in its win over the University of California-Berkeley despite dropping the top two positions. William Smith swept the lower seven matches, capped by a tight win in the final round of matches at No. 4 as Peyton Capute beat Jennifer Rha in five games—the first game was the longest of the day at 19-17.

E Division

The E division kicked off with just two matches on Friday. Boston University topped the University of Rochester 9-0, and Johns Hopkins edged out Wellesley 5-4. The other six teams play their first match in the quarterfinals Saturday morning.

The matchups are now released for the 46^th college women’s team nationals, to be hosted at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology February 16-18, 2018. All draws and live coverage throughout the weekend are available at csasquash.com/womensnationals2018.

42 teams from around the country will attend the championships and compete across five divisions: The Howe Cup (teams ranked No. 1-8)—which determines the national team champion; Kurtz Cup (9-16), Walker Cup (17-24); Epps Cup (25-32); and E Division (33-42).

Harvard enters the Howe Cup as the heavy favorite playing on their home courts. The Crimson are coming off an undefeated regular season and are currently unbeaten in 50 consecutive matches; the title would be Harvard’s fourth in a row and sixth over the last seven seasons. They will face No. 8 Cornell in the quarterfinals.

Harvard has captured 17 Howe Cups, a number equaled only by No. 2 seed Princeton. The Tigers have only one loss on the season, falling 8-1 to Harvard on February 3. Princeton will face perennial rival Penn in the quarterfinals; Penn made a run to the Howe Cup finals in 2017. The winner of Princeton/Penn will await either No. 3 Trinity or No. 6 Columbia in the semifinals. On the top half of the draw alongside Harvard and Cornell, No. 4 Stanford will face No. 5 Yale, whom the Cardinals beat in a tightly-contested 6-3 match in January.

In the Kurtz Cup, Drexel enters at the top seed, followed by Dartmouth in the second position. In the 2017 Kurtz Cup final, Dartmouth snuck out a narrow win 5-4 over Drexel that included a comeback from 2-0 games down at the four position in the final round of matches—a result that the Dragons will look to reverse in 2018.

The Walker Cup is led by Dickinson in only its fourth year as a varsity program. Tufts, under new head coach Joe Raho, enters seeded second. Directly behind Tufts is a resurgent Bates team, which has posted an impressive set of recent results (including two wins over Tufts) after a challenging first half of the season.

The Epps Cup will be contested by teams including top seed Bowdoin and two seed William Smith. California Berkeley and Georgetown—both club programs—crack their way into the Epps, a first for the Berkeley team.

The E Division is made up of primarily club programs with Boston College getting the nod as top seed. The Bard women will make their debut appearance in the team championships to cap off their inaugural year as a varsity program, entering as the five seed.

Follow the action all weekend at csasquash.com/womensnationals2018, including streaming of matches, draws, live scoring through Club Locker, match reporting and images throughout the event. Live scoring through Club Locker is available free on club locker for all users, just sign in with an existing US Squash account, or create a new one at no cost.

The finalists have been announced for the Betty Richey Award—the most prestigious annual individual honor bestowed by the College Squash Association (CSA). The Richey Award is given to the women’s college squash player who best exemplifies the ideals of squash in her love of and devotion to the game, her strong sense of fairness, and her excellence of play and leadership.

The winner of the award is determined by a vote of both coaches and players—each varsity team may cast one coach vote and one team vote. The Richey awardee will be announced on the Sunday of the women’s team nationals, February 18, 2018.

Finalists are listed in alphabetical order

Olivia Fiechter, Princeton University

Olivia Fiechter has played at the top of the Princeton lineup throughout her career, most frequently in the No. 1 position. She was selected as Ivy League Rookie of the year, and has earned First-Team All-American honors in each of her first three seasons. In the 2017-2018 season, she has accrued a 13-1 record.

Princeton head coach Gail Ramsay states: “Olivia’s on-court poise and demeanor is second to none.  As she plays hard to dominate her opponent with skill and court coverage, she demonstrates only the highest level of sportsmanship and fair play to all.  Olivia takes great pride in her sportsmanship and shows each and every opponent respect while competing to win.  Olivia wants to be the best at her sport and at the same time, be an excellent role model and represent Princeton, Princeton Squash and the CSA with grace, humility and appreciation.”

Laila Samy, Wesleyan University

Laila Samy has led the Wesleyan team throughout her four-year college squash career. She has earned first-team All-American honors in each of her first three seasons, reached the semifinal of the college individual championships in 2016, and posted an 80-1 regular season record.

According to Wesleyan head coach Shona Kerr: “Laila is at heart a team player and as a coach I could not have asked for more in Laila’s passion towards her teammates succeeding on and off the court. I consider her as an extension of the coaching staff and she has always gone above and beyond to help her teammates improve…. Laila is well-liked and respected by other coaches, officials and players on other teams, she has grown as a player and as a person over her college career and will go on to be a great ambassador for college squash as she looks to pursue a career in the sport.”

Raneem Sharaf, Trinity College

Raneem Sharaf has played the No. 1 position for Trinity for her junior and senior year. She is a two-time first team All-American, First Team All-NESCAC each of her first three years, and boasts a 54-15 career college record.

Trinity Head Coach Wendy Bartlett notes: “Raneem’s on court poise and demeanor is superlative. While putting pressure on her opponents with her powerful drives and quick court coverage, she demonstrates the highest level of sportsmanship. Whether she is winning or losing, Raneem shows fairness and grace. Throughout the past four years, Raneem has been driven to be one of the best intercollegiate squash players, and at the same time be an outstanding role model. She is determined and talented, but always willing to accept bad calls and the occasional defeat with her head held high.”

The College Squash Association (CSA) has announced the six players who will serve as members of the organization’s newly created Player Advisory Committee.

The committee is a subcommittee of the CSA Rules & Regulations Committee, and the inaugural members will provide a valuable student-athlete perspective and feedback on association planning and initiatives. The students—three women and three men—represent teams from a cross-section of leagues and ranking positions. Players will serve in two year terms.

Class of 2018

Carey Danforth, University of Virginia

John Dunham, Connecticut College

Alvin Heumann, Dartmouth College

Class of 2019

Jenny Haley, Trinity College

Bransten Ming, Drexel University

Reeham Sedky, University of Pennsylvania

The final full weekend of regular season play will bring the rankings into focus as teams prepare to travel to Boston February 16-18 for the women’s team nationals, and to Hartford February 23-25 for the men’s team nationals.

A full slate of Ivy play highlights the scheduled matches. The No. 1-ranked Harvard women will look to wrap up the Ivy crown alongside their bid for an undefeated regular season against rival Yale and Brown.

On the men’s side, No. 2-ranked Columbia is in the driver’s seat with no losses in the Ivy League; the Lions will face challenges this weekend from No. 7 Princeton and No. 6 Penn. Should Columbia stumble in either or both matches, the door would open to the Harvard men to share or claim the title; Harvard’s only loss in the league was to Columbia, and also will face Yale and Brown over the weekend.

The No. 17 and 19 Dickinson men and women, respectively, will aim to fend off upset bids from No. 19 and 22 F&M as the teams jockey for position in the C divisions for team nationals. Drexel will host three matches over the weekend as their teams take on George Washington, St. Lawrence and Middlebury—the men’s match between No. 12 Drexel and No. 11 George Washington promises to tight.

The final women’s regular season rankings, which determine team draw placement for nationals, will be released after this weekend, while the men’s league will play several more regular season matches over next weekend before its nationals draws are set.

View the full college schedules here:
College Squash Men’s Schedule
College Squash Women’s Schedule

Live Scoring will be available for many matches during the weekend on Club Locker.