** More photos
later **
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#1 Women's seed Miranda Ranieri from Yale
triumphs in the 2008 CSA Squash Individual Championship
. (photo:©2008 Debra
Tessier)
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Both players had marched through the draw without
much incident, and then contested a closely fought final which
ended in Ranieri's favor, giving Yale and her the title to cap
her collegiate career. Ranieri joins Berkeley Belknap (1991)
and Michelle Quibell (2004 and 2005) as the third Yalie to hold
the National Women's Ramsay Cup Title.
Ranieri started strongly and confidently, using
her speed and athleticism to gain an early advantage. But she
then changed strategy, going away from her game, trying to sit
on her early lead.
That wasn't going to work against the competitive
and opportunistic Lange, who ate away at Ranieri's lead and then
took the lead herself, reaching game ball. But Ranieri then went
into overdrive, using her athleticism and speed to reach everything
Lange could throw at her and put on pressure based on consistency.
She worked her way back into a tie and then took the first game
on willpower, speed, focus and confidence.
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#2 seed Kristen Lange from Penn is stretched.(photo:©2008
Debra Tessier)
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It was a pattern that would repeat itself throughout
the match. Whenever Ranieri let up and Lange seized the advantage,
Ranieri would use her speed, determination, endurange and athleticism
to reel Lange back in.
Ranieri was in control throughout game two.
In game three, she went away from her strength, became tentative
again, and Lange immediately seized the opportunity and the game.
This brough the score back to two games to one for Ranieri.
But Ranieri once again went back to her strength
- her all court, patient, placement and retrieval game. She outpace
Lange in game four to take the game, match and championship.
Lange will return next year for a third try at the championship;
while Miranda Ranieri will take this away as the crowning accomplishment
to a sterling collegiate career.
CHAUDhRY WINS TRINITY CHALLENGE MATCH
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#1 Men's seed Baset Chaudhry from Trinity
wins the title of the 2008 CSA Squash Individual Championship.(photo:©2008
Debra Tessier)
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Baset Chaudhry won the men's title in a four-game
closely fought contest with teammate Gustav Detter. Chaudhry,
a second year player at Trinity, becomes the third Trinity player
to hold the title - behind Marcus Cowie in 1997 and 98 and Bernardo
Samper in 2002.
It was an entertaining and interesting match
for the large crowd gathered to watch the men's finals on a sunny
Sunday afternoon by the Chesapeake Bay. This was a contrast in
styles, with the big, tall and lanky Chaudhry ready to volley
at will as well as use his touch, his angles and his rocket-hard
drives to put his opponent at a disadvantage. While in this case
his opponent, Gustav Detter, being a teammate and practice partner,
was well familiar with Baset's strengths, hoping to use his speed,
ability to run and mental strength to parry.
"In this tournament," their coach, Paul Assaiante
noted, "the event is often won on Saturday morning, in the quarterfinals.
The finalist with the hardest quarterfinal matchup usually is
at a big disadvantage." And that was so today for Detter, who
had survived both a long and drawn out quarterfinal with his
teammate Parth Sharma and then a tense and gripping 100 minute
contest in the evening with semi-finalist Mauricio Sanchez.
That's not to say that quarterfinalist Jim Bristow
and semifinalist Kimlee Wong didn't put up strong and spirited
opposition to Chaudhry. It's simply that those matches were shorter
- largely because of Baset's style - leaving him more reserves
for the final.
It's always difficult for two teammates who
have been focused on working together all year to suddenly face
each other in earnest for all the marbles. So the match may have
lacked some indefineable level of intensity at the critical moments.
At those critical moments, Baset Chaudhry took
home the advantage, the games and the match, and this year's
national championship.
Both Chaudhry and Detter will be back next year
- as will Sanchez, Wong, Bristow, Ahmed and West to challenge
them again.
NAVY COLLECTS TWO PIECES OF SILVER
For the host
school, the Naval Academy, there was also room for celebration,
as Navy team captain Jeff Sawin, defeated both of the Princeton
twins, Peter and Phillip Sopher, in succession to hoist the Molloy
Division second round consolation flight medal.
Navy rookie Allan Lutz (McLean, Va.) also closed
out the season Sunday by each taking a consolation title.
Sawin,
who won his opening round match on Friday before dropping his
following match, competed in the second consolation bracket.
He turned in a pair of wins on Saturday to advance to the semifinals
held Sunday morning at Bancroft Hall. Sawin easily defeated Princeton's
Philip Sopher, 9-0, 9-2, 10-8 and would be tasked with facing
Sopher's twin brother, Peter, in the championship bout. After
a brief scare that resulted ina hard-fought 10-9 victory in the
opening game, Sawin ended the match by winning the next two,
9-3 and 9-0. He produced a 5-1 record at the CSA Individual Championship
en route to capping the season with a 23-5 record. He concluded
his career by posting an 88-29 record, the most wins by a Midshipman
under the direction of eighth-year Navy head coach Craig Dawson.
"I'm so glad that I was able to end my career with a win,
especially a 9-0 win in the last game," said Sawin. "This
was really special for Tucker and myself to play our final matches
at home in front of our friends and family. I couldn't have asked
for much more."
"How many college players get to close out their career
with a win," said Dawson. "I really couldn't be happier
for him. I know he was disappointed that he lost in his second
match, but he did not let that stand in the way of fighting back
through and winning the consolation bracket. That shows what
he's all about."
After losing his first match of the tournament,
Lutz was forced to play with urgency, knowing he could not lose
another match. After winning a pair of three-gamers on Saturday,
Lutz was paired up with Middlebury's John Paul Sardi in the semis
of the consolation bracket. Lutz seemed to have little trouble
in getting past Sardi, earning a 9-5, 9-6, 9-7 victory, and setting
up the finals match against Williams' Will Gruner. Lutz looked
strong early on, taking game one, 9-3. However, Gruner bounced
back to not only even the score at one apiece with a 9-4 game
two win, he was able to sneak past Lutz in the third game, 10-8,
to take a 2-1 lead in the match. Lutz, though, would not be denied
as he evened the match at 9-5 before dominating Gruner in the
fifth and deciding game, 9-1. Lutz finished the year with a team-high
tying 23 wins (23-8).
"I was really disappointed that I lost my first match of
the tournament," said Lutz on Sunday. "My opponent
was ranked a few spots ahead of me and I wanted to get that win,
but instead I tried to make the best of the situation. I knew
I wanted to win the consolation bracket.
"I knew through
the training that Coach Dawson has provided us throughout the
year that I would be prepared for the finals match. We practice
being down games and points, so having that experienced helped
me. I felt comfortable that I would be able to come back after
getting down in the match."
"This was just a tremendous experience for Allan," said
Dawson, who is excited about his young prodigy's future. "I
think what he got out of this weekend's tournament will pay dividends
down the road."
This weekend's tournament marked the first
time Navy has had the opportunity to host the individual national
championship in its current form. The renovation and addition
to the Halsey Field House International Squash Courts Complex
provided Navy with the necessary 12 courts it needed to play
host to the tournament.
"Overall it was a great weekend and a pleasure to host
this tournament," said Dawson, a former All-American at
the Naval Academy. "It was a tremendous experience. I think
it was a good opportunity for all of the other schools to see
what the Naval Academy was all about and in turn, more people
at the Naval Academy got the chance to see what squash is all
about.
"There has never been a moment like Friday
in college squash," he added, in regards to the more that
2,300 fans, comprised mostly of the Brigade of Midshipmen, who
cheered on Navy senior Tucker George (West Hartford, Conn.) in
the featured match in the specially erected glass court. "People
are still talking about it today."
for more photos from the 2007-08 season visit college.squashphotos.com
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