Trinity's Bahgat Ranked As Top Women's Squash Player In The Nation
Hartford, Conn., February 26, 2009 - The Trinity College men's and women's squash teams will each send the top contender, as well as several highly-ranked competitors, to the College Squash Association (CSA) National Singles Championships this weekend at the Williams College on Feb. 27 to Mar. 1. Bantam men's squash junior and the CSA defending national champion Baset Chaudhry (Lahore, Pakistan) and women's squash undefeated freshman Nour Bahgat (Cairo, Egypt) are each ranked No. 1 among collegiate players entering the championships. Senior captains Gustav Detter (Malmoe, Sweden)at No. 2 and Manek Mathur (Mumbai, India) at No. 8 and sophomore Parth Sharma (Jaipur, India) at No. 10 will each contend for the men's title and women's juniors Nayelly Hernandez (San Luis Potosi, Mexico) and Tehani Guruge (Colombo, Sri Lanka) are top candidates to advance deep into the CSA Women's Singles Championship Tournament.
The Trinity men's squash team, coached by Paul Assaiante, posted another perfect season in 2008-09 at 19-0, including an 12th consecutive dual match season championship title and an 11th straight CSA Team Championship title (Potter Trophy). The Trinity women, coached by Wendy Bartlett, finished third in the CSA Team Championships (Howe Cup) with a 12-3 mark. The Trinity men are undefeated in all matches in each of the past 11 seasons (202 in a row), giving the Bantams the longest winning streak in all of intercollegiate varsity sports.
Chaudhry defeated Detter last March to win the 2008 CSA Singles crown, 3-1, in an All-Trinity final. He suffered his only loss of this season to the nation's No. 3-ranked player, Mauricio Sanchez, of Princeton, 3-2, in the final dual match of the year but avenged that defeat with a 3-2 triumph over Sanchez after falling behind, 5-0, in the fifth game of their match in the Potter Trophy Finals. Chaudhry is 11-1, while, Detter, who had won against Chaudhry in "challenge matches" to earn Trinity's top spot in the lineup until mid- February, is 13-1, Mathur is 14-1 and ranked No. 10, and Sharma, ranked No. 8, boasts Trinity's top record at 15-0. Sharma was a quarterfinalist as a rookie in 2007-08.
Bahgat has taken the women's college squash world by storm in her rookie campaign, winning all 12 of her matches against the top player on the opposition each time. Hernandez is 7-5 for Trinity, predominantly as the No. 2 player in the Bantam lineup and is ranked No. 11 nationally, while Gururge is 9-4 and ranked No. 18 in the nation but reached the quarterfinals a year ago.
