The Potomac Girls recorded the highest finish among teams from our district with their third-place division III finish at the High School Squash Championships in Philadelphia, equivalent to a national ranking of 35th.
The event is the largest squash tournament in the world, attracting over 1500 players and over 200 teams.
Congratulations to all seven Potomac starters: Sophia Calkins (#1), Haley Coon, Meera Vadlamani, Harper Kelly, Anya Aggarwal, Isabella Song, and Samantha Krilla.
The Potomac Boys scored the highest finish among boys teams from our district, taking 10th place in Division IV.
National Cathedral School sent a girls’ team for the first time. Other teams from our district that competed were Bethesda Chevy Chase, Whitman, and Episcopal (boys’ and girls’ teams).
The Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School team just finished a run to the Division VI consolation finals at the 2024 US High School Squash Championships. Despite being seeded 16th, they gave the number-1 team (The Masters School from Dobbs Ferry, NY) a scare in the first round. Rory O’Hara, Will Harcourt, and Arjun Prabhala all nearly pulled off upsets in five-game matches, and Sohan Kilaru battled hard in a close 3-1 loss. (Teams consist of seven players.)
In the next round, the team upset the number-9 seed (Loyola from Baltimore) by a 4-3 score (with Miles Vengrin, Sohan, Rory, and Arjun all winning their matches).
In the consolation semifinals, they again upset a higher-seed -- Friends Central from Philadelphia. This win was even more dramatic. In the number-one spot, Miles was down 0-2 in games, and won the next three to win in five. Sohan fell 3-1 to an extremely talented opponent, in … Continue Reading ››
After dropping the first game in the BU13 final 12-10, Laith Barakat came back to win his first bronze title at the Play Squash Academy Junior Bronze in Bethesda last month.
Nicolas Bruneau scored his first tournament title without dropping a game in the BU15 draw.
Genevieve Hartlage won all four matches in dominating fashion to take home the GU13 trophy.
An impressive 11 National Capital Squash (NCS) players qualified for the final US Squash Junior Championship Tournament (the highest level of junior squash competition in the USA), which was held in Houston, Texas last month.
NCS juniors accounted for five of the 32-player GU17 draw. Despite being seeded 13th, Akaisha Bhatia reached the GU17 quarterfinal. Makeda Moshi finished 13-16 and Trinity Moshi placed 21-24.
Indira Moshi set a personal best JCT finish of 18, in GU19.
Among NCS boys, Zachary Ingber posted the highest finish, 10th in BU15, a personal best in that age division. Christian Keng also set a personal best in BU17, with a 19-20 finish.
From the SquashSite coverage: "Amina Orfi and Youssef Soliman completed an Egyptian double in the Squash On Fire Open after wins over women’s top seed Tinne Gilis and men’s third seed Iker Pajares in Washington DC.
"Orfi, 16, claimed her maiden PSA World Tour title after holding off a valiant comeback from Gilis in five games, ousting the defending champion in 88 minutes by a 15-13, 11-1, 9-11, 8-11, 11-9 scoreline.
"At 2-0 up and 6-1 up in the third, Orfi looked destined for a straight-games win but defending champion Gilis clawed her way back into the encounter to level and take a 9-6 lead in the decider. But it was Orfi who finished stronger, reeling off five straight points and capture the biggest title of her burgeoning career."
Congratulations to the two NCS junior squash teams that were the first from our area to compete at the National Interscholastic Team Squash Championships. This year’s tournament, which occurred last month, was held at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center, the location for future championships too.
Both NCS teams competed in the top division, with the District Squash girls’ team finishing fourth nationally after defeating, by a 5-2 margin, a higher-seeded team from Greenwich, Connecticut. The team consisted of Radha Vadlamani (#1), Willa Haberl, Devan Chopra, Gabriella Bitar, Mariam Masoud, Lara Sheth, and Sophia Zafar.
The boys’ team, named “Butternut Squash,” had many tight matches, taking ninth place after defeating Pingry in the last match by a 5-2 score. Two of the teams five-match wins went to five games. The seven players on the team were: Dartagnan Rastogi (#1), Oskar Brown, Ibrahim Masoud, Vincent Gledhill, Neel Sethi, John Bitar, and Roshan Gill.
This … Continue Reading ››
There were three Silver tournaments in our region during the last month. At the Woodberry Forest Junior Silver last weekend, Ibrahim Masoud cruised to the BU15 final, then promptly lost the first two games. He recovered to win the last three by scores of 8, 6, 3 to win his first-ever Silver tournament. Oskar Brown took third place, and Mariam Masoud reached the GU15 final.
Arman Sana notched his second consecutive silver title in BU17 at the St. James Pro Bowl Junior Silver. Aleksei Pilling reached the final of BU13. Oskar Brown reached the BU15 final by knocking out the number one seed in a nail-biter of a match, winning with scores of (10), 7, (8), 14, and 11. Unfortunately, he fell in the final in five games.
Jaiden Saran reached the Play Squash Academy Junior Silver BU17 finals after triumphing in a tough five-game semifinal 10, (9), (4), 10, 7. He … Continue Reading ››
NCS girls accounted for a record 25% of the GU 17 draw at the Mid-Atlantic Junior Championships (JCT), which were held in Charlottesville. This tournament is one of just five national championship-level tournaments used to select Team USA, and attracts the most elite juniors nationally.
Playing up an age group in GU 17, Isabella Tang reached the final without dropping a game. She pushed the winner in four tight games, showing substantial improvement compared to her previous match against the same opponent in October. She reached her first-ever #1 USA ranking in GU 17.
Calla Yim reached her second career JCT quarterfinal to score 2600 ranking points and maintain her #7 highest-ever USA ranking.
Playing in her first year as a GU 17, Makeda Moshi set a personal best 11-12 finish in that age group. She took a game off a player ranked #6 in the USA and pushed her to 11-9 scores … Continue Reading ››
The Squash On Fire Open, a PSA Pro Tour event, comes to town in February and National Capital Squash (NCS) members have exclusive access to discounted tickets.
Entrants include Belgian Tinne Gilis (world #8), Victor Crouin (world #11), Sabrina Sobhy (world #15), Shahjahan Khan (US #1) Todd Harrity (US #2 and world #51), former world #1 James Willstrop, and 16-year-old sensation Amina Orfi (world #16).
Come out to support several DC locals as they open their campaigns! Squash On Fire and University Club coach Ineta Hopton (world #55) faces Egypt's Menna Hamed (world #65). Ineta will be followed onto court by Mark Broekman, a long time fixture on the DC squash scene and Wakefield School's High School coach, as he faces India's Velavan Senthilkumar (world #63). Danielle Ray also makes another step in her comeback from surgeries, this time against Egyptian Haya Ali (world #60).
Tickets available here. Check your email for … Continue Reading ››
Zach Hollander and Miles Brown each dropped just one game on the way to the Singles A final at the University Club Jan. 7. So it came as no surprise the last match was a closely contested one, with Hollander winning in four games, closing out the final game 16-14.
Ben Hughes took the Singles B trophy after prevailing in five-game, quarterfinal, four-game semi, and then 11-9 in the fifth game in the final.
Fernando Vasquez won in four games over Billy Rielly to capture the Singles C title.
