Norcal Squash

Menlo’s Morgan set for World Junior Squash Championships

Post author By Jay Kim
Post date April 9, 2016

Menlo School senior Gabriel Morgan has been selected as a member of the U.S. Junior Squash Team, which will compete this summer at the prestigious World Junior Squash Championships in Bielsko-Baiala, Poland. Photo by Dale Walker.
Menlo School senior Gabriel Morgan has been selected as a member of the U.S. Junior Squash Team, which will compete this summer at the prestigious World Junior Squash Championships in Bielsko-Baiala, Poland.
The nine men and women representing the United States were officially announced by U.S. Squash. Morgan, a 2015 junior worlds player, is making his debut in team competition.
This year’s world event features athletes from 27 countries and begins with the annual Men’s and Women’s World Junior Individual Championships, Aug. 6-11, followed by the biennial Men’s World Junior Team Championships, Aug. 12-17.
Morgan, who is set to play for Princeton next season, is a veteran of international squash competition. Last summer, he played for Team USA at the 2015 World Juniors in The Netherlands.
Morgan’s selection to Team USA caps off his final year on both the U.S. and world junior squash circuits. A top-five finish last month at the U.S. National Junior Squash Championships (Closed) at Harvard University further cemented Morgan’s selection to the team.
“It was one of my goal’s this season to make Team USA and I am really excited to again play for the United States and compete at the World Juniors,” Morgan said. “It’s a huge honor and a tremendous privilege to represent your country, and I know my teammates are I are all pretty stoked to compete against the very best players in the world and make the USA proud.”
Morgan said the men’s team is exceptionally strong — all of the players have had success at the international level.
“Most importantly, we know what it takes to properly train and get ready for worlds and the dedication that’s required,” Morgan said. “It’s going to be a lot of hard work, but I think Team USA can go deep in both the individual and team competitions . . . we cannot wait to get to Poland.”
In 2012, Morgan became the first junior player from California to be crowned a national champion, winning the Boys U15 title. He is a three-time U.S. Squash All-American and a two-time U.S. Squash Scholar-Athlete. Morgan also is a four-year starter for the Menlo tennis team.
— Menlo School Athletics

2016 Santa Clara Bay Club Championships

Post author By Jay Kim
Post date April 9, 2016

This past weekend Bay Club Santa Clara hosted its 23rd annual squash club championships. The tournament received a record high Bay Club member turnout of 100 players who participated on this fun filled tournament.

During the 2-day event, we witnessed some amazing matches. One of the most memorable matches was in the Women’s 5.0 division between 14 year old Mahnoor Haq and 17 year old Julie Yeung. Both players played at a fast pace with Mahnoor edging past Julie in the 5th game 11-5 to take her first Women’s 5.0 club championship title.

Other notable results were in the Men’s 6.0 with brothers Zephan and Dillon Huang who battled out the Men’s final. Younger brother Dillon played a very controlled game but Zephan showed his years of experience to take the match 3-1 to claim his 2nd Bay Club Santa Clara Men’s 6.0 club championship title.

Many thanks to Farhad Ettehad, AmeriChoice and Remax for generously sponsoring this tournament for the 14th consecutive year.

Juniors Norcal News

William T. Ketcham Jr. Award was awarded to our own Adam for Most Improved player at the US Junior Nationals.

Post author By Jay Kim
Post date March 19, 2016

Nice going Adam !!
Jay Kim
Norcal Squah Association

Juniors Norcal News

Madison Ho’s performance at the US Junior Nationals

Post author By Jay Kim
Post date March 19, 2016

Thank you Aisling Blake for this write up about our Madison Ho, the petite 9 year old from Palo Alto had a run of recent good form coming into the US Junior Nationals held last weekend in Boston, MA. Recently crowned U-13 West Coast Regional Champion, Madison has won every U-11 JCT event she has entered this year. While competing in the West Coast Regionals she came from a 10-3 deficit in the 5th game against a very tough opponent to take the title. This mental tenacity would serve her well as she competed for her first National title. Her first match was against another local player, Riya Navani of Fremont, Madison taking that match with a 3-1 win displaying some of the tight rails and front court execution she has become known for, even at such a young age. The following two matches against Rhea Pandit and Sabrina Schwarz , both of New York, were more straight forward affairs, won in 3 straight games setting up a final between the no. 2 seed Mary Kacergis of Pennsylvania. In the final, Kacergis had by far the better start of the two with a strong volley and using her height and reach to her advantage. Indeed it was not until Madison trailed 2-0 and 10-8 in the 3rd game that the crowd realised they had a match on their hands. From this point on, the tables were turned. Madison created some very positive rallies combined with a tight short game to take that game and the next, 11-9. At two games all the match was about to get interesting. Drawing on the new found confidence Madison served her way to a 10-0 lead with an exquisite lob serve which proved very problematic for the youngster from Pennsylvania. Despite a spirited comeback by Kacergis to 5-10 Madison was able to close out the match and take the U-11 title, a first for the West Coast junior. She goes home with an unblemished record for the 2015/16 season and with the mental strength she displayed in attaining the title, will undoubtedly be a bright hope for the future of West Coast and indeed, national US squash. Jay Kim Norcal Squash Association

Juniors Norcal News

2016 U.S. Junior Squash Championships (Nationals) at Harvard’s Murr Center.

Post author By Jay Kim
Post date March 19, 2016
1 Comment on 2016 U.S. Junior Squash Championships (Nationals) at Harvard’s Murr Center.

It’s March and the U.S. junior squash season is coming to a close. Players have been training and contending and accumulating points since the prior spring to earn a spot at the 2016 U.S. Junior Squash Championships (Nationals) at Harvard’s Murr Center. The top 32 players in each division prepare for the big event, coming from all corners of the US. Most U11 players are coming for their first time and U19 players, many of them, for their last junior tournament. US Squash officials and referees and photographers descend on the Murr center to ensure a smooth event and witness the ups and downs of the competitions. NorCal players are well-represented at the event. Most have travelled early to manage jet lag. They have put their schoolwork on the back burner for a short time. They are ready to compete!

GU11 player Madison Ho, of Brisbane, CA, seeded # 1 in her division, breezes to the final, finishing on Sunday as Champion, having lost only one game all weekend until the finals. Riya Navani of Freemont, CA, the only other non East Coast player in the draw, took the one game from Ho in a second round match up. In the final match, Madison fought of two match points coming back from 2-0 10-8 down to win the Championship title in five!

Seven BU11 players represented NorCal at Harvard this weekend with Ahmad Haq of Santa Clara making it to the quarterfinals in the main draw and finishing 5th in the tournament.

The GU13 and GU15 draws each had three California girls, and of the GU15 three, each won her first round match, with Avni Anand of Saratoga, CA finishing 3rd and Esha Lakhotia, also from Saratoga, coming in 10th in the tournament.

Four NorCal players made it into the BU13 draw. Varun Chitturi of Fremont, CA placed 9th and Mukunth Gopalakrishnan, also of Fremont placed 10th in that draw. Two NorCal boys and one from Oregon played in the BU15 division. Udai Pal, from Hillsbourough, CA, placed 6th in the BU15 division.

Juliette Love, Alex Dworetzky and Aditya Kankariya were the NorCal players in the GU17 and BU17 draws. West Coast player, Laila Sedky, from Washington state won the GU17 Champion title.

Behind the very impressive NorCal results outlined thus far, of juniors “beginning” their junior squash careers, is the backstory of the older players looking at the end of their junior careers. For most of the U19 players, this is their last junior tournament. Most, by now, know where they are going to college and plan to play intercollegiate squash. They loyally sport the gear from their soon-to-be next major allegiance. The moment is bittersweet. For many of the parents, (unless they have younger players on a similar track), it is also their last tournament. The taxing travel schedule of missed work and airplane homework, pizza in the hotel room before an early match, canceled flights home from the East Coast…will even be missed, because the hotel parking lot snowball fights and this unique and wonderful shared experience with their kids is coming to its final hours.

While the players may be into college, the results for the U19 players still have some high stakes. The top 6 players will be invited to play in the Junior World competition in Poland this summer. Only the top 4 play the individual competition and the top 6 in the team event.

In the GU19, Mariam Kamal of California was seeded first. She placed 3rd after a hard-fought, 5-game semifinal loss to 13 year-old, phenom, Marina Stefanoni, who went on to win the GU19 division, making her the youngest Junior National Champion. Tara Arya from Cupertino, CA also contended in GU19. Kamal will represent the U.S. on the National Team this summer.

Gabriel Morgan and Cole Becker of CA along with Salim Kahn and Terrence Wang of Washington state represented West Coast Squash at Harvard this past weekend. Morgan finished 5th; Kahn, 9th and Becker, age 16, won a round in the main draw and 2 in the consolation draw. Gabriel Morgan, secured the #4 spot on the National Team this summer, through his performance at Nationals this past weekend.

This group of U19 players started their squash careers, most of them, almost a decade ago. They have paved the way for West Coast Junior Squash. When this group played U13s, there were 45 total junior West Coast squash players, including all age groups (3.5% of U.S. junior players at that time). In the 2015-2016 squash season, there are 158 West Coast players, making up more than 10% of all U.S. junior players. Their graduation marks an end of an era. We wish them well and give gratitude for their model of hard work, good sportsmanship and accomplishment.

contributed by Liza Geary

Norcal News Schools Tournaments Women

Olympic Club Women’s Team vs. Stanford Varsity team

Post author By Jay Kim
Post date March 12, 2016

The Olympic Club women’s squash team played their second annual match against Stanford’s Varsity team on Saturday, February 20. The OC team traveled to Stanford’s campus in Palo Alto for Stanford’s only home match of the year. It was a tough match and the OC team had a loss of 8-1. Pia Trikha won her match in three games at the number five spot. Jesse Pacheco lost her match in four games at the number one slot, and Toby Eyre lost in a close five game match at the number two spot. Stanford has an especially strong team this year and finished 6th in the country at nationals held at Yale this past weekend. We look forward to playing them again next year!

contributed by Lauren Patrizio Xaba, SquashDrive

Tournaments Uncategorized Women

Norcal Squash Association proudly congratulates our own Berkeley Revanaugh

Post author By Jay Kim
Post date March 11, 2016

Norcal Squash Association proudly congratulates our own Berkeley Revanaugh her sister Mary McKee for successfully defending the US National Doubles 40+ Title as a 3peat !!! Her victory is in addition to her previous squash notable success and contribution to our game. Outstanding Play Early in her career, Berkeley was the national junior champion in singles and doubles squash. She then became a four-time All-American and academic All-American at Yale, served twice as captain of the Yale team, won the national intercollegiate title in 1991, and captained Yale’s winning Howe Cup team in 1992. Capping her college career, she won an award as the senior woman athlete who best exemplified the values of Yale. Berkeley’s squash career after Yale has been equally outstanding. She attained a world professional ranking of 27 in singles; won the U.S. national doubles title; has won four national 40+ age-group titles in doubles (now 5); represented the U.S. women’s national team in three world championships as well as the Pam-Am Games (where the team won a silver medal) and three Pam-Am Federation Cups; and played on the championship U.S. team in the 2014 Can-Am Cup. Contributions to the Game of Squash Berkeley’s support of U.S. Squash has included serving on the Board of Directors from 1992-96, and more recently on the Selection Committee and Finance Committee. Since 2011, she has been a volunteer coach at the Stanford Junior Squash Program, which works with players aged 8 to 14. She is also a regular supporter of SquashDrive (a NUSEA after-school program that is dedicated to teaching and coaching children from underserved neighborhoods) and Xtreme Squash (a Stanford program with a similar mission and a focus on community service).

John Lau of the University club provided much of this precious insight and background info. Congrats again to our local Champ Berkeley and her sister for a triumphant victorious defense.

Jay Kim Norcal Squash Association

Uncategorized

Save the Date 4th Annual SquashDrive Slam

Post author By Jay Kim
Post date March 6, 2016

Thursday, May 19th, 2016: Professional Doubles Exhibition & Fundraising Dinner
Saturday, May 21st, 2016: Invitational Team Tournament
The University Club of San Francisco

Juniors Norcal News Schools

Letter home from Bransten Ming:

Post author By Jay Kim
Post date February 13, 2016

As Bransten highlights a few things that he learned so far from playing college ball: The biggest difference between playing junior squash, and college squash is the mentality. Unlike juniors, where you’ll get an easy match here and there, college squash is a much more intensified version of junior squash. Literally every person is a strong player, everyone can hit the ball well and everyone is fit. It really just boils down to how mentally tough you are, and how confident you’re feeling on any given day. As for playing on a team, it is so much fun. It’s intense, passionate, vigorous, you name it. It’s such a great feeling playing for not only yourself, but your teammates as well. Entering college squash is so refreshing because it brings an incredible team aspect into the sport, something that us west coasters don’t know a whole lot about. Without a doubt, the team is the best part of my college experience. We are all very close. We eat together, live together, and go out together. Another great aspect of college squash is the diversity. Just my team alone represents over 10 countries, including: US, Egypt, Singapore, New Zealand, Luxembourg, Sweden, Guayana, Columbia, India, Ireland, and Canada. Playing all the other schools is great because you get to play people from all around the world. The Drexel team is lead by head coach and ex world number 1, John White. He’s an outstanding tactical coach, and one of the best hitting partners one could ask for. He is assisted by Kelsey Engman, who also is a great coach/mentor. Together, they are always there for the team no matter the circumstances. I am so grateful to call them my coaches. We are currently ranked number 9 in the nation. Looking forward, we are looking to break the top 8 soon so we can make it into the division A nationals. You can follow our results on collegesquashassociation.com and our instagram page @drexelsquash. Jay Kim Norcal Squash Association “Keep it straight”

Juniors Norcal News

NorCal Juniors Shine at Mid-Atlantic JCT

Post author By Jay Kim
Post date February 13, 2016

NorCal Juniors Shine at Mid-Atlantic JCT

Twenty NorCal juniors participated in the last Junior Championship Tour (JCT) of the 2015-2016 squash season this past weekend (February 6-8) at the Meadow Mills Athletic Club in Baltimore, Maryland. Following on the heels of a heavy snowstorm that shuttered much of the East Coast, Baltimore was able to clear the streets in time to host the Mid-Atlantic JCT, and there were only a few patches of snow remaining by the time the West Coast players arrived for their matches on Friday morning.

The JCTs are the nation’s most prestigious national junior squash tournaments, as they attract the top players from around the country, and our juniors had some great results:

A record 5 boys from the Bay Area competed in the Boys U11 division. Dhruv Nemani, Zane Patel, Nikhil Kanchi, Varun Fuloria, and Mero Elmarassy each won at least one round in the Main Draw or the Consolation. Mero had an especially strong tournament, advancing to the finals of the Consolation where he lost in an extremely close match (9th place).

In the Boys U13 Division, the Bay Area boys did serious damage in the Consolation draws, with Mukunth Gopalakrishnan reaching the semis, and Zain Ahmed losing in the Consol finals (10th place) to Varum Chiturri, who won the Consolation (9th place). Shivin Kumar pressed hard and did well, winning the Plate.

Congratulations to Udai Pal for reaching the finals of the Main Draw in the Boys U15 division! Udai upset the #2 and #3 seeds to get to the finals, an impressive performance.

Aditya Kankariya played well in the Boys U17 division but ran into stiff competition early on. He narrowly lost a marathon 5 game match to end his attack in the Main Draw.

Two players finished in the top 10 of the Boys U19 division. Gabriel Morgan reached the quarterfinals of the Main Draw before losing to the #1 seed, and finished in 7th place, while Cole Becker won the Consolation and finished in 9th place.

In the Girls U11 division, Kristen Daniel had a great tournament, winning her first round in the Main Draw and later advancing to the finals of the Consolation, where she lost in a very close match (9th place).

In the Girls U13 division, Claudia Adam had a tough draw facing the #4 seed in the first round of the Main Draw, and Riddhi Joshi won one round before seeing her run end in the Consolation.

In the Girls U15 division, Esha Lakhotia, Serena Daniel, and Avni Anand all won their first rounds in the Main Draw, and Avni went on to the finals of the Consolation where she lost to the #3 seed in the division (10th place).

In the Girls U17 division, Aarushi Lakhotia drew a tough first round opponent who went on to win the Classic Plate, but Aarushi played well and went on to win a round in the very competitive Consolation draw.

Former SF Bay Club Head Pro Kim Clearkin, who now handles all the JCTs for US Squash, did a terrific job keeping the matches running smoothly. Bay Area families enjoyed reconnecting with Kim, whose efforts to grow junior squash while she was in the Bay Area can still be seen by the great turnout from the West Coast.

One of the advantages of the Baltimore tournament is that it all takes place at one venue, making it easier for families and coaches to stay together and get to matches on time. It also provides a great opportunity for younger players to watch the older players, and for all the Bay Area kids to support and cheer for each other in a heavily East Coast-dominated competition. Congratulations to all participants!

The junior squash season of 2015-2016 culminates March 11-13 with the US (Closed) Nationals, which will take place at Harvard University.