Harvard Squash Squashes Opponents (again…)
By JASPER FU
This weekend was a good one for the Crimson squash teams, with both the men’s and women’s teams snatching dominating victories from the University of Pennsylvania. Harvard’s women’s squash (5-0 in the Ivy League, and 7-0 overall), pulled off a flawless victory in Philadelphia, 9 – 0 against Penn. The No. 5 ranked Quakers (7 – 3, 1 – 2 Ivy) went into the weekend just after facing off unsuccessfully against No. 1 Princeton, in a 8 – 1 defeat, but were unable to eke out a victory, losing two back-to-back Ivy league games for the first time in almost ten years (and being swept for the first time since 2012).
With this victory, the Crimson hasn’t lost an overall game in more than four years — 59 games — since Jan. 12, 2015. The No. 1 Crimson player, Harvard senior Sabrina Sobhy, lost her first game 9 – 11, but came back with three consecutive victories to beat Penn’s Reeham Sedky, her seventh consecutive victory. Georgina Kennedy (No. 2) and Amelia Henly (No. 3) defeated Penn’s Jessica Davis and Jamlia Tamer, respectively, in three games each. Kayley Leonard (No. 4), Amina Yousry (No. 5), and Hana Moataz (No. 6) all claimed 3 – 0 victories, but Penn’s Haley Scott in the No. 7 game brought Harvard’s Eleonore Evans to 4 games before the Crimson player prevailed. Senior Sophie Mehta in No. 8 and sophomore Maddie Chai in No. 9 both won 3 – 0.
Men’s squash proved similarly dominant in Philadelphia, with the top-ranked Crimson team (10 – 0 overall, 5 – 0 Ivy) keeping their undefeated streak alive against No. 3 Penn. In its 6 – 3 victory, Harvard maintained its commanding record (77 – 3) over the Quakers, thanks in part to two five-set reverse sweeps — with Harvard junior Sean Hughes against Penn’s Michael Mehl, and Harvard sophomore Julien Gosset against Penn’s Jonathan Zeitels, both Crimson players coming back from 0 – 2 deficits.
First-year Marwan Tarek (No. 2) remained undefeated for his 9th game, after beating Aly Abou El Einen (in the Penn first-year’s first loss of the season) in four games. Sam Scherl (No. 4), Saaldedin Abouaish (No. 6), and George Crowne (No.7), all won quick 3 – 0 victories against their Penn counterparts (James Flyynn, Karim Hussein, and Yash Bhargava, respectively). Unfortunately, No. 1. Victor Crouin lost against Penn’s Andrew Douglas, in a hard-fought five-set battle (the fourth of the game, and one of two that went poorly for Harvard), as did the Crimson’s Adam Corcoran (No. 8) against Wil Hagen. In an exhibition match, Penn’s Max Reed took on Harvard’s Theodore Mendez, winning in three games.
Jasper Fu ‘21 (jasperfu@college.harvard.edu) looks forward to continued dominant performances by Harvard’s Squash teams.