Lucas Bitar battled through two five-game matches in the quarters and semis and reached his first Gold final yesterday at the Episcopal Academy Junior Gold in the Philadelphia area. Indira Moshi took third place in the GU19 division. Ali Mansi-Schmitt set a personal best 9^th place finish at a BU13 Gold. Playing in his first BU13 Gold, Zayd Mansi-Schmitt finished 11-12, a solid result in a strong draw. Grinding through six matches, Arman Sana also set a personal best 17^th place BU17 Gold finish, taking the final match 10, 8, 10.

Three NCS juniors, GU15s Akaisha Bhatia, Trinity Moshi, and Isabella Tang were selected to represent Team USA in the British Junior Open, considered the top annual junior tournament with age divisions in the world. All three pulled major upsets and finished ahead of their seeding in their 64-player draw. Tang (#9/16) shocked the #3/4 seed in the Round of 16 with her four-game win, helping Team USA set a new record of 16 British Junior Open quarterfinalists. She finished in eighth place. Bhatia and Moshi (both #17/32 seeds) dispatched a #9/16 seed in the second round in lopsided matches. Bhatia won 5, (9), 4, 2 and Moshi triumphed 7, 5, 5. Both of them again beat #9/16 seeds in the 13th-place bracket. Their last match was against each other, with Bhatia prevailing in four games to take 13th place. NCS sponsored each player to assist in defraying a portion of their expenses to compete … Continue Reading ››

For those members unfamiliar with junior tournaments, the US Junior Open (USJO) is one of the top three tournaments in the world by strength of the draw. Most draws have nearly 128 players. A US player may not enter if not ranked in the top 100 and only the best 48 US players who apply gain entry. There are only five US Junior Championship Tournaments (JCT) per year, and only the top 32 players who enter each division get to compete. Draws are usually similar in strength to the US Junior Championships at the end of the season. Gold Tournaments attract many JCT-level players, and most weekends in season there is one Gold-level tournament somewhere in the nation. Draws are limited to the top 32 who apply. Top USJO Finishes Isabella Tang reached the GU15 final at the US Junior Open, an especially remarkable accomplishment given that it was her first year as a … Continue Reading ››

Genevieve Hartlage took home her first tournament title last month at the Play Squash Academy McLean Bronze. She cruised into the GU13 final and overcame Rose Naughton 14. 10. 9 in a hotly contested match for the title. Philip Barquin dominated on his way to his first tournament trophy, winning four straight BU11 matches 3-0 and racking up 132 points to just 39 by his opponents. Special recognition also goes out to BU13 Laith Barakat. Playing in his first tournament ever, and as the #6 seed in an eight-player draw, he defeated the #2 and #3 seeds before falling in the final in a four-game match by scores of 4, 3, (11), 10.

Congratulations to Arman Sana (BU17) and Aleksei Pilling  (BU13), who won their divisions at the Junior Silver held in Bethesda last month. It was Sana’s first Silver tournament title and Pilling’s first BU13 Silver trophy. Both dominated their draws, winning out 3-0. Mariam Masoud finished second in GU15 and Oskar Brown finished third in the BU15 division after losing to the eventual winner in the semi-finals.