PHILADELPHIA- For the third straight year, a member of the University of Pennsylvania men's squash team took Ivy League Rookie of the Year honors, while two additional players received All-Ivy honors, as announced by the conference on Thursday.
Salman Khalil earned Rookie of the Year and All-Ivy honors, while
Omar Hafez and
Nick Spizzirri received All-Ivy recognition. Hafez picked up the freshman top honor last season, while Spizzirri was named to the All-Ivy first team last year. In addition, Spizzirri garnered Academic All-Ivy.
Khalil has played just seven matches but has posted a 4-2 record in Ivy play all at No. 1. Khalil has picked up wins against Harvard's David Costales and Yale's Yee Xian Siow, who are both All-Ivy honorees. Three of Khalil's wins came via a 3-0 sweep.
Last year's Rookie of the Year, Hafez has continued the rapid pace to his career currently standing at a 11-1 record for the season, running his career to 27-2. Hafez has played 12 matches this season, with seven of them at No. 2. Hafez finished a perfect 6-0 in Ivy play, including wins over fellow All-Ivy honorees Omar Azzam of Harvard and a thrilling five-game match over Hollis Robertson of Princeton.
Spizzirri ended the regular season winning nine matches in a row, dropping only four games throughout the year. Spizzirri's record for this season concluded at 9-1 and 6-0 in league play with a win over, playing seven matches at No. 3. Spizzirri's career now stands at 40-8, which puts him eighth overall in career wins in Penn men's squash history.
The Quaker men will return to action February 29 to March 3 for CSA Team Championships hosted at the Specter Squash Center at Drexel University.
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