Siebert Swoons,
Baset smooth, Miranda Calm, Mauricio in the mix.
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A
crowd 2500 strong cheered on the Academy's entrant
into the men's championships, Tucker George.
(photo:©2008
Chris Smith) |
As a Naval Academy bagpipes unit roused
the crowd, cheers and a wave made this more than a squash
match, indeed a seminal squash occasion.
It's safe to say that most of the crowd
of 2500 were meeting squash for the first time - and judging
by their reaction, they liked what they saw.
The
Naval Academy's senior Tucker George had a date with heralded
Trinity freshman Supreet Singh. The glass show court, set
up in the Academy's cavernous gym, was completely
surrounded with uniformed students, sitting and standing,
and George and Singh completely rose to the occasion, elevating
their games and giving the expectant fans a good contest.
George, buoyed by the emotional energy of
the crowd, took the first game, but Singh settled down in
the second and brought his skills and racquet work to bear
to blunt George's momentum and somewhat quiet the throng.
But the crowd stayed with George, the Academy's
authorities excused the midshipment from their next classes
to watch the full match, and while Singh eventually took
charge, George fought valiantly to the end, and his fans
gave him and Singh a standing ovation at the conclusion of
the match.
SIEBERT SHOCKED BY HARVARD'S #5, BETHAN
WILLIAMS
While the George match was the energy high
of the day, the preceding contest on the glass court was
the result of the day. An upset of shocking proportions.
Amanda Siebert, the #1 player for newly crowned National
Champs Princeton, won the first game handily against Harvard's
Bethan Williams. But, as Harvard coach Mo Ayaz said, "Bethan
stuck to her game. If she does what she's good at she plays
very well, and I've been working with her all year to believe
in her own tactics." She did. Beginning in the second game,
Williams began moving Siebert up front and back and forth.
As the midshipman crowd gathered, and watched
this women's first round matchup as an intro, Siebert looked
increasingly dismayed by both Bethan's tactics and the swelling
noise of the growing crowd.
Siebert looked perfectly OK on court, simply
outplayed by Bethan, but soon after the match she was rushed
to the hospital after collapsing. A few hours later the nature
of her physical problem was still unidentified, but concerned
Princeton coach Gail Ramsay enough to insist that Siebert
withdraw from the consolation draw. And the next morning
it turned out she had had a food allergic reaction.
OTHER SURPRISING EXITS
Also exiting the women's draw were - Stanford's
Lily Lortentzen, who seemed to have her match with Harvard's
Alisha Mashruwala in hand, with a two game lead, but lost
her way and the match leaving Mashruwala to face defending
finalist, Penn's Kristen Lange.
In the same eighth of the draw as Lorentzen,
Mt Holyoke's Pam Anckermann, perhaps feeling the weight of
pressure of Mt Holyoke's athletic expectations, failed to
advance out of the first round. Anckermann then sadly exited
from the consolation draw.
Logan Greer, Yale's star-in-waiting, clutched
in her first appearance in the intercollegiate championships,
to Penn's Tara Chawla.
Though not an upset, Toby Eyre scored a
good win over Trinity's Ashley Clackson. Eyre now faces the
Trinity #1, Lauren Polonich.
THE TRINITY - PRINCETON SHOW
In the men's draw, the quarterfinals
developed, as in the past several years, into very much a
Trinity - Princeton affair. Rochester's Jim Bristow, who
faces Trinity's Chaudhry and Harvard's Colin West, who faces
Princeton's Kimlee Wong, are the only non Princeton/Trinity
players in the quarters.
THE NAVY DISTAFF SIDE
And we can't close without mentioning the
very respectable appearance made by Navy's top woman player,
Julie Kiernan. Kiernan led the women's squash to a third
place finish in their division at the Women's Howe Cup last
weekend, and today played two competitive matches in the
Holleran Division. Kiernan will be heard from in the next
few seasons.
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