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This past weekend at the Harvard Club, the USSRA Women's
Committee hosted the first of a series of three Women's Elite
tournaments. The participants in these tournaments are all
in the National Team Candidate pool vying for a spot on the
US Team that will compete in the Pan American Games in the
Dominican Republic this summer. The Candidates are required
to play in two of the three Elite tournaments, the US Nationals
Women's Open, and two other tournaments from a list of specific
selection events. Their perfomance will determine the eight
players invited to the Team trials in June.
Last weekend's tournament consisted of some very exciting
matches including a few unexpected upsets. Latasha Khan, last
year's National Champion and the number one seed for the tournament,
started off strong by quickly defeating Brooklyn native Carlin
Wing and then advanced to the finals by beating another Brooklynite
Julia Beaver without dropping a game. Her sister, Shabana,
seeded second, came into the weekend feeling sick and had
to withdraw in the third game of her first round match against
Harvard junior Louisa Hall. Louisa won the first two games
handily and was winning the third 4-0 when Shabana conceded
the match. While Shabana was under the weather, her young
opponent showed much improvement in her shot selection and
maturity in her court demeanor since last season. In another
first round upset, Yale freshman phenom Michelle Quibell defeated
Meredeth Quick in 4 games. The next day Louisa continued to
display her high level of play by beating Michelle 3-0 in
the semifinal.
In the place matches on Sunday, Meredeth beat Hope Prockop
3-0 for 5th place while Julia beat Michelle in a hard fought
close 4 games for 3rd place. In the very exciting, crowd packed
final, Louisa fought back from a 2-0 deficit to overcome the
seemingly unbeatable Latasha Khan 10-8 in the fifth.
The second Women's Elite tournament will be held April 25-27th
at the Westchester Squash club. All MSRA players are encouraged
to attend. Special thanks to Richard Chin for running a successful
tournament at the Harvard Club.
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