PHILADELPHIA — Simmi Chan of the Columbia women's squash team is a national champion. The sophomore from Hong Kong took down Cornell's Sivasangari Subramaniam in Sunday's Ramsay Cup final, 2-11, 12-10, 11-5, 13-11, becoming the first national champion in the history of the program.
The College Squash Association (CSA) Men's and Women's Individual National Championships were held this weekend at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center. Chan was the No. 3 seed out of 16 competitors in the Ramsay Cup draw, which serves as the women's top flight.
Chan won her first two matches on Friday with three-game sweeps over Harvard's Habeeba Eldefrawy and Trinity's Jana Safy. On Saturday, she eliminated Harvard's Marina Stefanoni in the semifinals, 11-7, 11-8, 8-11, 11-4, to earn her spot in Sunday's final.
"It means a lot to win the national title," Chan said. "This was my first time competing at individual nationals. It means a lot to win a title both individually and in the name of Columbia. It also meant a lot to do it by defeating Siva, the defending champion. We have played each other a few times collegiately — I beat her once at Ivy Scrimmages and she beat me last year in the regular season. She is a fantastic player and I have a lot of respect for her."
"Simmi is so strong tactically and has some of the best touch in the world with a squash ball," Kenneth W. Torrey Director of Squash
Chris Sachvie said. "When she starts to get on a roll, the way she hits the ball, it's always angled in the exact way to make it hard for her opponents. It's one thing to know exactly where you want to put the ball, but the ability to do it is a whole other piece that she is just world-class at doing."
Chan capped off a perfect 16-0 collegiate season in the title match. After falling behind by dropping the first game, 11-2, she won the first two points of the second game and earned game ball at 10-8. Subramaniam battled back to even the score, 10-10, but Chan won a fantastic rally to go back up 11-10 and took advantage this time, evening things up at a game apiece.
"There may have been some nerves involved for Simmi at the start of the match," Sachvie added. "It was really impressive how quickly she switched it with a few adjustments. In those big moments, it can be pretty tough to bounce back and have confidence. She made a couple of tactical changes and got into her zone."
Subramaniam went up 4-1 in game three before Chan dug deep to take control. The second-year Lion rolled off the next seven points and dropped just one the rest of the game to take a 2-1 lead into the fourth.
The fourth game was a battle. It included seven ties and two lead changes, the last coming when Chan scored three straight to take a 9-7 advantage. The reigning national champion would tie things up at 9, 10 and 11, but Chan played a beautiful ball just above the line to get to 12-11 and earn her third chance at the championship. This time, she converted, as Subramaniam's lunging shot was too low, clinching the title for Chan.
Along with winning the national title, Chan was named a First Team All-American.
Eight other Lions competed in various draws at the individual championships. On the women's side, Erica McGillcuddy was the No. 3 seed in the North Division for the Holleran Cup and made a run to the semifinals.
Nourin Khalifa fell in the quarterfinals of her first CSA National Championships.
Elizabeth Lentz and
Amal Izhar were defeated in the first round of their brackets but made runs in the consolations. Lentz advanced to the semifinals, while Izhar went all the way to the Holleran West Division Consolation Final.
On the men's side, Harold Castiaux was the No. 1 seed in the Molly Cup South Division. He won his opening match but was upset by the No. 9 seed in the second round. Jacob Bulbulia lost his opener as the No. 7 seed in the North Division but made a run to the consolation finals before falling on Sunday. Chaitanya Shah and Alexander Yuzpe participated in the U.S. Squash National Doubles Tournament, winning their opening round match before their run came to a close in the second round.
"Overall, it was positive. Everyone was excited to keep their seasons alive," Sachvie added. "We played so hard right until the end. There were a couple of good wins and tough losses mixed in there. It's easy after the end of a long season, when you don't have the team aspect to play for, to not give your strongest effort. However, everyone was dialed in all weekend and really gave us a solid effort."
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